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International Office of Education

EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT

National Report of Argentina

by

National Ministry of Education

March 2001

Informe nacional: El desarrollo de la educación 2

CONTENTS

CONTENTS.............................................................................................................................. 2

INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 4

THE ARGENTINE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN 1990..................................................................... 7

NEW LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF THE ARGENTINE EDUCATION...................................................... 9

ORGANIZATION, STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM................. 12

POLICIES, METHODS AND INSTRUMENTS OF EVALUATION ..................................................... 23

1.2. MAIN QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE SUCCESSES OF THE LAST 10

YEARS .................................................................................................................................... 26

SOCIO-ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF ARGENTINE ...................................................................... 26

MAIN QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE SUCCESS ................................................................ 28

A KIND OF SYNTHESIZED ....................................................................................................... 47

1.3. EXPERIENCES FROM THE PROCESS OF CHANGE AND REFORM OF THE

EDUCATION SYSTEMS (APPROACHES ADOPTED, SUCCESSFUL OR FAILED

STRATEGIES, MAIN PROBLEMS) .................................................................................. 48

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................... 48

THE NEW WAYS OF GOVERNING THE SYSTEM: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE NATIONAL

AND PROVINCIAL AUTHORITIES ............................................................................................. 48

THE TRANSFORMATION APPROACH ADOPTED ........................................................................ 49

NEW INSTRUMENTS FOR IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL QUALITY ............................................... 50

MANAGEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS: AUTONOMY VS. CENTRALIZED CONTROL .. 50

THE CHANGE OF STRUCTURE ................................................................................................. 51

ACCESS, EQUITY AND QUALITY ............................................................................................. 52

THE LACK OF ARTICULATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION ........................................................... 54

1.4. MAJOR PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES FOR NATIONAL EDUCATION AT

THE START OF THE XXI CENTURY.............................................................................. 56

COORDINATION OF FEDERAL EDUCATION POLICY.................................................................. 56

EXTENSION OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION ON A FOOTING OF QUALITY AND EQUITY .............. 57


IMPROVEMENT OF THE INFORMATION AND EVALUATION SYSTEMS........................................ 58

SECONDARY EDUCATION....................................................................................................... 59

EDUCATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULTS....................................................................... 60

STRENGTHENING OF THE TEACHING PROFESSION .................................................................. 61

THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN SCHOOLS ...................................................... 62

INTEGRATION OF THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM.............................................................. 62

2. EDUCATION CONTENTS AND LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR THE XXI

CENTURY (NURSERY/PRE-SCHOOL, PRIMARY/BASIC AND FORMAL AND

INFORMAL SECONDARY EDUCATION)....................................................................... 65

CURRICULUM SETTING, PRINCIPLES AND ASSUMPTIONS ........................................................ 65

SETTING OF PROVINCIAL CURRICULAR DESIGNS AND CURRICULAR ORIENTATIONS FOR

SPECIAL PROGRAMS............................................................................................................... 66

DEFINITION OF CURRICULAR STRUCTURES ............................................................................ 67

STUDY PLANS, TIME ALLOCATED TO EACH SUBJECT OR AREA. LENGTH OF SCHOOL YEAR.

NUMBER OF WEEKS WORKED ................................................................................................ 69

TEACHER TRAINING............................................................................................................... 83


INTRODUCTION

The present report aims to describe the main improvements and reforms that have taken place in

the Argentine educational system for the last decade of the XX century. This document develop a

state of situation of the Argentine education; it analyzes successes; it describes the difficulties and

obstacles that still remain, and presents the objectives that orient public policies for the

educational sector at the beginnings of the XXI century.

The ’90 were a distinctive decade due to the deep program of reforms on the State and the

Argentine economy, process that was accompanied with varied reforms of the sectors of health,

education, development and social security. In the area of education, a new normative ordering

was engendered at national levels. The new ordering modified the regulation of the educational

system as a whole. On the basis of legal changes, embracing and innovative policies were

developed on aspects of structure of levels and cycles, content and curriculum, system evaluation,

training and development for teachers. This report presents a general analysis of this complex

process of changes.

The document is divided in two parts:

The First Part describes the new normative frame set up for the educational system, the main

quantitative and qualitative successes on school access, quality and equity, and the major

problems and challenges that the development of the education in Argentine will have to face

during the 2001 – 2010 decade.

The Second Part details the principles, levels and processes of elaboration of the curriculum in its

three levels of organization: the federal level, the provincial level and the school level.


Few explanations about this report

The structure of the current educational system is described respectful to the way in which it was

legislated. The achievement of the new educational system, started during the ´90´s, is developed

differently according to times and modalities. Thus, the implementation of the new system

produced an important regional heterogeneity in the different provinces. The argentine

educational system is under a process of transition and therefore, it has been chosen to describe it

as the effective norm establishes1.

Initials

TTP: Trayectos Técnico Profesionales. TPT Techno-professional Tracks

CFyE: Consejo Federal de Cultura y Educación. FCCE Federal Council of Culture and

Education

EGB: Educación General Básica. BGE Basic General Education

FGF: Formación General de Fundamento correspondiente a la Educación Polimodal. GTF

General Training on Fundamentals corresponding to Polimodal Education

FO: Formación Orientada correspondiente a la Educación Polimodal. OT Oriented Training

corresponding to Polimodal Education

INDEC: Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. NISC National Institute of Statistics and

Census

MCyE: Ministerio de Cultura y Educación. MCyE Ministry of Culture and Education

CBC: Contenidos Básicos Comunes. BCC Basic Common Contents

CBO: Contenidos Básicos Orientados. BOC Basic Oriented Contents

Glossary

BACHILLER: Modality of Secondary education oriented towards an academic formation, of five

years of length, organized from a general curriculum and intended to prepare students to

continue their studies in higher education.

ESCUELA COMERCIAL: Modality of Secondary education of five years of length. It was

mainly oriented towards the development of technicians of accounting and management of

productive activities. This degree allowed the enrolment into higher education.


ESCUELA TÉCNICA: Modality of Secondary education oriented towards technical

development of six years of length. It was intended to develop qualified experts in the different

branches of the industrial sector. This modality gave a general scientific and technical

development (Science, design, drawing skills) and a professional training for specific areas of

productivity (electro-mechanics, chemistry, electronics, building construction). Since the second

half of the XX century, it allowed the enrolment into higher education.

PLAN DE ESTUDIOS (PLANS OF STUDY): Legal Norm that defines the goals and

objectives, the subjects, the working units (carga horaria) and the selection and sequences of the

contents that are to be taught in the different levels and modalities of the schools.

ESCUELA AGRARIA: Modality of Secondary education oriented towards agro activities.

ESCUELA ARTÍSTICA: Modality of Secondary education and high education oriented towards

different kinds of artistic education.

ESCUELA NORMAL: institutions of non-university higher education oriented towards

teacher´s development.


1. 1. MAIN REFORMS AND INNOVATIONS INTRODUCED IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN

THE LAST 10 YEARS

The argentine educational system in 1990

Until the beginning of the ´90, the educational system of Argentina didin´t has an organic law

that regulates the functioning of the whole of levels and modalities for all the national territory.

The “Common educational Law # 1420”, enacted in 1884, established the basic principles of the

primary school. It was in force in the national territories but not in the provinces2. That law

established basic obligatory education of seven years of length and defined the gratuitous and lay

character of the public education. The provinces had the responsibility of primary schooling

according to the National Constitution dated back to 1853. However, in 1905, the denominated

Law Láinez3 allowed the National State to create primary schools in those provinces that

requested it.

On the contrary, the Secondary schooling didn’t have specific laws. The creation of the National

School of Buenos Aires (1862) is recognized as the departure point of the level and, particularly,

of the bachillerato, which was one of the branches of the Secondary level. Towards the endings of

XIX century, institutions of this kind had been created in most of the provinces. That end of

century gave rise to other two modalities: Escuela Comercial and Escuelas Técnicas. At the beginning

of the XX century, the first institutions were created that would give origin to the other

traditional branches of Secondary Education: Educación Artística and Educación Agraria. So that, the

branches of the Secondary School were settled: Bachillerato, Comercial, Técnico, Artistico and Agrario.

(See glossary)

In 1869 began, as an organized area, the development of teachers. This was carried out in

Normal Schools; institutions that belonged to the Secondary level that remained functioning until

the 1960´s. In 1969, the development of teachers was constituted as a tertiary non-university

modality. Higher education recognized its beginnings in the creation of Universidad de Córdoba

(1613) and Universidad de Buenos Aires (1821). In 1874 the Law #1597 was enacted and started the

regulation of the functioning of this level. Through out the XX century there were several

university laws that regulated particular aspects, like the functioning of private universities. Up to

1995 was effective the law # 23.068, which was enacted during the first years of the returned to

democracy. This norm, inspired by the principles of autonomy and university co-government,


reestablished higher education statutes dated back to 1966. The year of 1966 represents the last

stage of the normalized performance of the public Universities.

Several attempts of reform of the educational system followed one another throughout the

century but, in general, they didn’t modified substantial aspects of the structure configured

between the endings of the XIX century and the beginnings of the XX century. The most

important administrative reform was the transference of the primary schools from the Nation to

the provinces governments (1978). Those schools had been created over 70 years – since the

enactment of Láinez Law – by the national State.

By the endings of 1990, the educational system was organized in four levels:

�� Initial, for children up to five years old

�� Primary, obligatory and of seven years in length, for children of 6 to 12 years old

�� Secondary, of 5 or 6 years in length, due to it modality, for young people of 12 to 18 years

old.

�� Higher education, divided into two subsystems: university and non-university, the last of

which mainly constituted the Institutes for Teacher Development.

In addition to those levels, institutions of Artistic Education and Special Education existed as

well as initiatives related to Adult Education. Embryonic postgraduate studies, with seat in

universities and other academic institutions diverse in its origins began to consolidate.

The government of the educational system was distributed between the national State, the

provinces and the City of Buenos Aires. The provinces and the City of Buenos Aires managed

most of the Initial and Primary Schools and part of the Secondary and non-university High

Schools. The national State managed a large number of the institutions of these two last levels.

This disposition constrained the simultaneous existence, in the Secondary level, of a great deal of

curricula accepted for each modality, since diverse experiences taken ahead in the different

jurisdictions accumulated one after another. The National Universities, alike today, were

autonomous but they depended financially on National Ministry of Education.

During the 1980´s, after the returning of democracy, debates about the situations of the argentine

educational system brought new problematic issues into the agenda. Ways of management,

quality of teaching, justice and equity on access and permanence in the educational system were

part of the above-mentioned agenda. Between 1984 and 1987, the National Pedagogical Congress

was held and during the meetings, the educational situation was analyzed. The Congress turned

out to be a space of agreements on the necessity of fulfillment of changes to the system. In the


National Pedagogical Congress, as an open space of assembly, partook the educative community,

State agencies, civil and politics institutions as well as citizenship in general.

New legal framework of the argentine education

During the 90´s the educational system was traversed by strong changes. From laws that

attempted a reordering of the educational system and according to educational policies brought

forth by the national State and provinces, the National Congress enacted the Federal Law of

Education. This law (1993) regulates the argentine education in all its levels and modalities.

This Law, along with the Law of Transference of Educative Services (Law Nº 24,049) of 1991

and the Law of Superior Education (Law Nº 24521) of 1995, represents the normative frame that

impelled and supported the transformation of the system on the last decade. The present frame is

completed with the set of Federal Agreements subscribed between the provinces and the Nation

in the core of the Federal Council of Culture and Education. (FCCE).

National Constitution

The National Constitution, dated from 1853, was reformed in successive opportunities. The last

reform, made in 1994 and in force today, contains 3 articles referred specifically to education:

�� Article 5 establishes the obligation of the provinces to assure the primary schooling

�� Article 14 prescribes that within citizen rights are included those of teaching and learning.

�� Article 75, in two of its subparts, attributes to the National Congress the power of:

“To provide the means to the prosperity of the country, the development and well-being of all

the provinces, and to the progress of enlightening, prescribing plans of general and higher

education. (subpart 18)

“To enact laws of organization and basic to education that reinforce: the national unity respecting

the provinces and local particularities ensuring the retention of responsibility under State custody;

propitiates family and social participation; to promote democratic values and equality of

opportunities and possibilities without any discrimination; and to guarantee the principles of free

access and equity of the State public education and the autonomy and autarky of the national

universities.” (subpart 18)

Law of Transference of Educational Services (Law #24.049)

This law established the transference of the educational institutions of Secondary and non-

university Tertiary level to the provinces and to the City of Buenos Aires. In this way the direct

management of the schools by the National Ministry of Education was ceased. The


instrumentation of the process of decentralization of the educational services took place between

1992 and 1994 by means of the subscription of transference agreements held by the State and

each one of the provinces and City of Buenos Aires. The transference completed the process

initiated decades before. The landmark of it was the transference of the national primary schools

to the provinces made in 1978.

Federal Law of Education (Law # 24.195)

On April 14th, 1993, the National Congress enacted Law 24.195. This is the first statutory law

that legislate on the totality of the instances of the argentine educational system: defines its

objectives, transforms the academic structure and establishes the necessity to prescribe Common

Basic Contents for all the levels. In addition it regulates the educative levels; the government of

the system, the State and private management, formal and non- formal education, the common

and special education, children, young and adult education, and technical and artistic education.

This law established:

1) the implementation of a gradual and progressive structure compounded of:

�� Initial Level, for children of 3 to 5 years old, for which the last stage is obligatory;

�� General Basic Education, obligatory and of nine years in length;

�� Polimodal, of a minimum of three years in length;

�� Undergraduate Studies;

�� Postgraduate Studies;

�� Other special modalities – Special Education, Adults Education and Artistic Education -.

2) The 10 years of obligatory schooling include the last stage of Initial level and the nine years of

the Basic General Education. This supposes an extension of the common basic education, from

the previous 7 years of Primary School to the nine years of the Basic General Education.

3) The distribution of responsibilities between the State and the provinces and City of Buenos

Aires and the strengthening of the spaces for federal agreement.

4) The creation of a Federal Network of Continue Development of teachers in order to train,

develop and update the whole body of teachers along the country.

5) The creation of a National System of Evaluation of Quality of Education, which incorporates

to the argentine educational system an important tool for monitoring and control.

The national State, the provinces and the City of Buenos Aires were compelled to guarantee the

principles of free access, the fulfilment of the obligatory assisting to school and the organization


of special welfare plans for children of Initial level and for those enrolled in Special Education

with unsatisfied basic needs. The investment in the educational system must be supported,

according to the Law, with the resources determined by the corresponding budgets: of the

Nation, of the provinces, or that of the City of Buenos Aires

Law of Higher Education

The Law #24.521 (1995) of Higher education (University and non – university modalities) has

been conceived as an ample regulatory frame for all of the institutions of that educational level. It

introduces important innovations between which some of the following can be found:

- Imposes important requirements for the creation of new universities, public or private, which

has to be supported by feasibility studies and solid institutional projects, fully evaluated.

- Creates a system of institutional evaluation, which includes external periodic evaluations

under the responsibility of a decentralized state body or of associations of evaluation properly

accredited.

- Imposes the accreditation of all the postgraduate studies and of those graduate studies for

professions that might put in danger health, security, rights, goods or inhabitants

development.

- Fixes patterns attended to ensure a minimum academic performance of the students

- Decentralizes salary policies, promoting an enlargement of the financing autarchy of the

universities

- Establishes the responsibilities for the support of the Public Higher Education under the

State custody.

The law above mentioned step forward in the re-definition of the relationship between the

Universities and the State. The establishment of regulator bodies that promoted changes in that

level are defined within the spirit of the law. The CONEAU (National Commission of

Evaluation and University Accreditation) allowed focusing in the construction of parameters that

deal with the quality of teaching activities offered by these institutions.


Organization, structure and management of the educational system

Organization and government

The Federal Law of Education establishes the necessity of strengthen the government and

management of the education as a concurrent and settle responsibility of the Federal

Government, the Provincial Governments and of the City of Buenos Aires. The National

Ministry of Culture and Education has to set the educational policies and to unify criteria

between jurisdictions in the scope of the Federal Council of Culture and Education. This is to be

done through agreements and consensus.

The politic – institutional method of organization adopted by the Federal Government on

matters of education for each province depends on the effective legislation in each case, on the

historical and cultural peculiarities and on the developing and complexities of the educational

system. In some provinces exists Ministries of Education, while in others there are State

Secretaries and in other cases education is administered by General Boards.

The provinces are responsible for the management of the buildings of all the levels and

modalities. In some jurisdictions, the municipalities constitute the local units of administration of

the educational service, but this modality is not generalized.

The City of Buenos Aires, due to the magnitude of the educational services that it has, works as

another jurisdiction of the National System and has the faculties pertinent to the provincial

management. In this sense, it counts with services of education of all the levels and special

regimes.

At the school level, the focus was set in the adjustment of the traditional ways of approaching

work. The adjustment was directed towards the reconstructing the uses of time and space and

was carried out through special projects that took into consideration local needs. In brief, those

criteria points to the constructions of a school characterized as a unit relatively autonomous and

self-managed.

The new attribution of functions for the National Ministry, the Federal Council of Culture and

Education and the jurisdictions, restructured the relation between the Nation and the provinces.

The Federal Council of Culture and Education played an essential role in the construction of the

policies for the implementation of the Federal Law of Education. This was achievable because, at

its core, the public officers of the educational bodies for each jurisdiction agreed on ways and

time assigned to the transformation of the system.


Duties of the National Ministry of Education

The National Ministry of Education has under its scopes the following duties:

�� guarantee the fulfilment of the main objectives and duties defined by the Law;

�� favour an “adequate decentralization of the educational services”;

�� develop national and federal programs of technical and financing cooperation with the

intention of promoting the quality of the education;

�� coordinate and perform research projects and cooperate with national universities and other

specific national bodies;

�� promote the use of means of social communication in order to spread out educational and

cultural programs;

�� elaborate rules of re-assessment of international equivalencies of degrees of study and

diplomas;

�� coordinate and manage international and bilateral technical and financing cooperation;

�� contribute technically to the training and developing of the profession in all the levels;

�� elaborate annual reports with the results of the evaluation of the system

Also, and due to agreements with the Federal Council of Culture and Education, the National

Ministry of Education has the responsibility of:

�� establishing the objectives and Common Basic Contents of the different levels and special

regimes of education;

�� elaborating general norms of equivalence of degrees and studies;

�� promoting and organizing a net of training, development and update for teachers and

other personnel related to the educational system;

�� evaluating the functioning of the educational system in every jurisdiction, levels, cycles

and regimes.

On the other hand, in coordination with the Federal Council of Culture and education it has to

implement special programs that guarantee the access, permanence and level fulfilment of the

students in all the levels and cycles of the system, and manage its own educational services and

those of support and technical aid (planning, quality evaluation, statistic, research, an so).


Duties of the Federal Council of Culture and Education

The Federal Law of Education establishes that the scope of coordination and agreement of the

system is the Federal Council of Culture and Education and has among its duties that of unifying

criteria between jurisdiction. In addition to the responsibilities established in 1980, date of its

constitution, the following tasks were included:

�� to stipulate the Basic Common Contents, the design of the curriculum for each modality and

the means of evaluation of the system;

�� to agree on the mechanisms for the recognition and equivalence of studies, degrees and the

rest of the papers that certifies whether formal or informal education;

�� to agree on the Basic Common Contents for the development of teachers and the required

certifies for professional performance;

�� to agree on the pedagogical standards required to exert teaching profession in each of the

artistic branch for the different levels and for special regimes.

�� to promote and to spread out innovative experiences and organize the exchange of public

officers, specialist and teachers;

�� to consider and present orientations that tend to the preserving and developing of the

national culture;

�� to guarantee family participation in the educational planning, and include teachers

organizations and renown private educational institutions;

�� to cooperate on matters of normative that helps to keep the link with the National Congress

and legislatures of the different jurisdictions.

Duties of the provincial government:

Provincial authorities have under their scope the following responsibilities:

�� to plan, to organize and to manage the educational system within its jurisdiction;

�� to stipulate the curriculum for the different levels, cycles and regimes according to the frame

agreed with the Federal Council of Culture and Education;

�� to organize and to manage the educational buildings pertaining to the state and to authorize

and to supervise the buildings of the private sphere within its jurisdiction;

�� to apply the decisions of the Federal Council of Culture and Education with the necessary

fitness


�� to evaluate periodically the system of education within the area of its competence;

�� to promote the participation of the organizations of teachers and of other members related to

the education for the bettering of the quality of the education.

The private sector

Although the Federal Law of Education establishes the frame of action for the institutions of

education of the private sector, a special agreement of the Federal Council of Culture and

Education determines the guidelines that ruled their functioning. The private educational services

are subject to previous recognition and to the supervision of the officers of education.

The recognition within the official system of education faculties the private institutions to:

�� organize and support themselves;

�� select and to promote its chief personnel, teachers, administrators and other personnel;

�� decide on matters of the use of school buildings;

�� enrol, qualify, examine, promote, allows transferences of students of different modalities,

certifies and extends diplomas;

�� apply it own regime of coexistence

�� elaborate and custody pertinent documentation

The jurisdictions fix conditions of caducity of recognition and/or State support according to

criteria of reasonability, equity and legality. This has to be done with a substantive information

gather through administrative inspections and with the guarantee of the owner participation. In

addition, it must be conducted according to the legal frame about proceedings and constitutional

rights.

The curricular transformation in the jurisdictions considers the rights of the institution of private

management to formulate plans and experimental study programs whenever they are compatible

with the new academic and institutional organization of the argentine system of education.

The teachers of the institutions of education of private management that were recognized have

the right to a minimum salary equal to that of the teachers of the state institutions and must have

official degrees recognized by the current norm of each jurisdiction.


The structure of the educational system

The new structure of the National System of Education includes, as it was explained above, the

following levels: Initial, General Basic Education, Polimodal, Higher Education and Postgraduate

Education. The levels define the tracks in which the system will have to take care of the

fulfilment of the necessities stated by the society. Those necessities are determined by particular

contexts related to space and time patterns. The levels correspond to individual needs specified

by the evolutionary process, and are articulated with necessities pertaining to the psycho-

biological and socio-cultural development. The length of the level is related to the social and

personal necessities that concerns the education such as:

- the prevention and early education, and the accurate aid that guarantees the quality of the

results through all the stages of the learning process.

- the acquisition of the basic competences, the appropriation of the basic and common

contents essential to the population

- the mastering of knowledge and intermediate capacities, desirables for everyone;

- the fulfilment of good levels of development and of differential and optional competences.

As far as the structure of the system, the law establishes that the levels and special regimes must

articulate themselves in order to facilitate horizontal and vertical mobilization of the students and

indicates the elemental characteristics of each kind of education and level. These dispositions are

complemented with the specifications stated by the Federal Council of Culture and Education.

The system of education of Argentine recognizes a distinction between common education and

special regimes.

Common Education

Initial Education

Includes two types of institutions: a) early childhood education b) kindergarten

a) early childhood education: is destined to kinds under 3 years old, and its duties are to guarantee

the right of the child to receive care related to his/her basic needs and education, and to promote

a greater equity taking into account initial unevenness.

b) Kindergarten: it is intended for children of three to five years old, being obligatory the last year

of schooling. Its duties are to deepen educational success obtained among the family context,

develop the competences proper to the level and to endeavour the articulation with the Basic

Common Education.


Their objectives are to promote the structuring of thought, imagination and communication; to

favour maturation of children; to stimulate habits of social integration, to fortify the bonds

between the school and the family; and to prevent and care of physical, psychic and social

inequalities. The authorization and supervision of the buildings are in charge of the jurisdictional

authorities. The jurisdictional authorities have under their scope of responsibilities those related

to the supervision of the activities destined to children to up to 3 years old.

Basic Common Education:

It is obligatory and of nine years in length. Children start this level at six years old. A pedagogical

unit must be understood as integral and is organized in cycles. The Federal Council of Culture

and Education defined the existence of three cycles for the Basic Common Education, of three

years each one: First Cycle (for children of 6 to 8 years old), Second Cycle (for children of 9 to 11

years old), and Third Cycle (for children of 12 to 14 years old). The ages for each cycle are

mentioned only as a hint.

Their objectives are to provide a common basic education to all the children and teenagers.

Among its objectives are: to favour the individual and social development; integrates positive

attitudes towards work environments as a pedagogical methodology; to acquire habits of hygiene

and health care, to stimulate the knowledge and the critical appreciation of traditions and cultural

heritage, among others.

Polimodal

It should take a minimum of three years in length and follows the fulfilment of the Common

Basic Education. Some of the objectives are: to prepare students to the exert of their rights and

citizen responsibilities, to deepen theoretical knowledge of a set subjects clustered according to

the following topics: humanities, social, scientific and technical; to develop instrumental skills

and apprenticeship related to the working environment; to favour intellectual autonomy;

propitiate sports practice. In addition, it has to familiarize students towards higher education. The

Polimodal Education contemplates five modalities:

�� Natural Science

�� Economy and Management

�� Humanities and Social Science

�� Production of Goods and Services


�� Communication, Arts and Design

Each modality must ensure a minimum of common competences required to participate actively,

reflexively and critically in the different contexts of social and productive life. Institutions can

offer one or more modalities.

The Polimodal diploma has its own value and is equivalent in international terms to the

accreditation of a formal education of second level. It enables the enrolment to any career of

higher education level.

Articulation with the Techno – professional Tracks: the Federal Council of Culture and Education

establishes that the Polimodal Education can be articulated with the Techno – professional

tracks. The techno – professional tracks should offer an initial professional improvement that

favours the performance in specific areas. The techno – professional tracks are defined as an

offering articulated with Polimodal Education that set out to develop professional competences

that assures adequate fulfilment within occupational areas for which, according to its

complexities, demand specific technological education of professional profile.

It’s a necessary condition for a student that wants to enrol in a Techno – professional Track to

have completed the obligatory schooling. The offering of Techno – professional Tracks is

structured taking into account explicit professional profiles elaborated through mechanisms of

consultation organized by the Ministry of Education and must count with active participation of

agents of production and educational community. The Federal Council of Culture and Education

also set the criteria for professional profiles and competences planning. Furthermore, it also

established guidelines about teaching work units (carga horaria) for those formative tracks (see

Chapter 3).

Passing the examination of each module or group of modules gives rise to independent

certifications. The certifications thus obtained conform a “portfolio of competences” which can

be enlarge and enrich through the rest of the life. The fulfilment of every module of a Techno –

professional track provides a degree that certifies technical knowledge pertinent to the particular

track.


Special regimes

They are intended to attain necessities that couldn’t be satisfied by the basic structure of the

system and that demand specific offerings based on the necessities of the student or the

environment. It establishes the following modalities: special, adults and artistic.

Special Education:

The basic criteria defined for its organization are:

�� Special education must articulate itself with schooling services.

�� The service should be carried out in special schools or centres when other strategies are

considered to be insufficient, or when the students have complex educational needs that

cannot be hold in ordinary contexts, although with the corresponding support.

�� The educational action is organized considering the common curricular design as a parameter,

and solving student’s needs in order for them to access and advance within it.

�� It must grant personalized education.

�� It must include areas of education oriented towards: community participation; uses of spare

time; linkage with adulthood; exert personal autonomy and labour training.

�� The transformation of the management of the institutions based on criteria of flexibility and

interdisciplinary, the institutional and ample classroom project planning, balanced, diverse

and the promotion of team work among teachers.

�� Educational services of this special regime are divided in:

a) Educational services of support for the institutions of common education and for the community:

offer specific support for caring and evaluating students with special educational

needs, whether transitory or permanent, within the scope of common education,

for all the levels and institutions

b) Educational services for people with special educational needs: Are divided in:

b.1. Services of attention and early education: will be in charge of preventing, early

detection and the attention of the children with high psychological and/or

biological and/or social risk, from his birth to his incorporation to the Initial

Education.


b.2. Special Schools: will offer education to the students with special needs that

require services that couldn’t be given by Common Education and services of

support of the ordinary institutions and of the community.

b.3. Services of professional training: will be in charge of the evaluation, orientation,

adaptation and professional training of the students with special needs that

couldn’t enrol in the ordinary institutions.

b.4. Life-long education: Special education will tend to facilitate the support and

required services in order to give people with special educational necessities the

opportunity to continue developing processes through their lives.

Artistic Education:

The Artistic education was deeply transformed by the new normative frame. Its duties are: to

provide training to the professionals of arts and to teachers of different specialities, in articulation

with the Polimodal; to guarantee to the students the possibilities of continuing higher education

and tend to develop values and strengthening national identity taking into account local, regional

and provincial idiosyncrasies and to the integration with America and the world. It must offer

orientation towards diverse working fields, reinforcing the competences that drive to a flexible

adjustment to the changes and thus take advantages of them.

The structuring is ordinary in the sense that it proposes for all the institutions of art, an offering

in two levels, which organizes its specialties, identifiable for their features and scope. It is also

flexible because it is broad and diverse and so it facilitates its adequacy to each specialty and to

the interests of each province or institution. It is composed of two levels

Artistic – professional Track or Basic: its organization and proper age of enrolment will be

determined by each jurisdiction and / or institutions according to the necessities for each

specialty, with working units defined for the level. This level will articulate with the

Common Basic Education, the Polimodal (in each case letting the accreditation of

curricular content) and the University (taking into account the possibility of agreements

that allows further studies in that level)


Higher Education: comprised two alternatives, Teacher development and Higher Technical

Education.

Young and Adult Education

Young and Adult Education is conceived as life-long learning according to the following

principles and general criteria:

�� The right of all the people to an education of quality and in tune with the changes of contemporary world. The

National State and the jurisdictions must guarantee this right by means of the creation and

the support of the necessary services, with the same quality level as to the others educational

services of the system, as well as to promote intersectional actions.

�� The necessity of learning through all stages of life.

�� The autonomy of the individuals in the organization and management of his / her learning

projects. The addressees are people of 16 years or more, who haven’t finished Common Basic Education and

of 18 years or more, whichever were his / her level of schooling. Young and Adult education must offer

curricular and institutional alternatives that allows the students to organized their own

developing schedules, taking into account their motivations, capacities, background

knowledge and future plans.

�� The identity, complementariness, and articulation of the general education and of the techno – professional

development. The students will be able to organize their own itineraries through the services of

the resources of the general education, of professional technical orientation, and through

services of both types, or through an integrated educational service that guarantees both.)

The curricular and institutional organization is based on criteria of openness and flexibility, with

emphasis in a holistic development, and combined with offerings of different length.

Higher Education

The Higher Education is constituted by institutions of non-university of higher education, being

they of development of teachers, humanistic, social, techno – professional or artistic orientation;

and by institutions of University Education, that includes national and provincial universities and

private universities recognized by the National State. This level also includes State’s institutions

and recognized private institutions. All the above mentioned integrates the National System of


the University level. The enrolment for this level can be pursued after the fulfilment of Polimodal

Education and offers professional training and undergraduate studies. The universities and other

institutions involved define lengths depending on the subject and objective of study.

It corresponds to the provinces and to the City of Buenos Aires the management and

organization of the non – university higher education within their scope of competency. The

universities are granted with academic autonomy and autarky of management and economic and

financing independency, all this according to the legislative frame in force.

The Higher Education is conformed by a non – university undergraduate professional stage that

will be given at a) Institutions of Development of Teachers or equivalent and b) Institutions of

Technical training that will grant professional degrees and will be articulated with the universities.

The other stage is a university undergraduate academic and professional stage that will be fulfilled

at universities. For this stage it is defined, among others, the objective of training and developing

technicians and professionals, to develop the knowledge at the highest level, to spread scientific-

technological knowledge, to stimulate intellectual reflection on matters of national, Latin-

American and world problems, and to exert consultancy for national and private institutions.

Teacher Training

The Federal Council of Culture and Education established the basis of the system of teacher

training. The academic organization distinguishes, on one hand teacher training of Initial level

and of the first and second cycles of Basic General Education. On the other hand, there exists

teacher training of the third level of the GBE and Polimodal. The first mentioned could be

developed within non- universities Higher Education institutions and within universities. It could

offer a multidisciplinary training that guarantees quality of teaching in subjects such as: maths,

language, social science, natural science, ethics and citizenry and technological knowledge, artistic

education and sports. The second orientation of teaching development corresponds to the third

level of Basic General Education and Polimodal and must offer a disciplinal training that assures

quality of teaching of the Common Basic Contents related to this level and for the Oriented

Basic Contents of the Polimodal level. In every case, they should be done in Universities or in

non- universities institutions that subscribed agreements with universities or are specifically

accredited as capable of engage in those tasks. The Federal Council of Culture and Education

defined 4 instances of continuing teacher development:

a) undergraduate training


b) improvement during teaching activities;

c) training of teachers for new professional abilities;

d) pedagogical training for non-teachers.

Postgraduate Education:

Universities are responsible of this level. Other institutions capable of bringing postgraduate

studies are: academic, scientific and renowned professional institutions. Those that want to access

to this level must have completed undergraduate studies corresponding to the Higher Education

level.

Non- formal Education:

The Federal Law of Education establishes the actions that the official authorities must fulfil in

relation to non-formal education:

· promote services offerings;

· favor teacher training actions;

· submit to the community information on the offerings of the area.

· promote agreements with intermediate associations in order to jointly develop programs;

· facilitates the organization of cultural associations intended for young people;

· facilitates the use of buildings and of resources of the public institutions and of the

buildings of the formal educational system;

· protect the consumers rights on matters of non-formal educational services.

Policies, methods and instruments of evaluation

The evaluation of the system

The Federal Law of Education created the National System of Quality of Evaluation with the

purpose of giving to the National Ministry of Education a tool that guarantees the equity of

knowledge distribution along the country. The system carries out the following activities:

�� measuring year by year the knowledge acquired by the students in every level of the system;

�� monitoring the adequacy of the contents of the education according to the demands of the

society and of the requirements of the academic and working environment;


�� monitoring the quality of the teacher training.

Between 1993 and 2000 eight national inquiries in order to measure the success reached by the

students that were ending Primary and Secondary levels have taken placed. Those inquiries gave

information about aspects of success in education for all the country. Taking into account that

information, methodological recommendations were given to the teachers, in order to improve

the work in classrooms, to intensify and to orient tasks of teacher training and to assist to the

provinces with major difficulties.

The evaluation of the institutions

There are not specific systems of evaluations that can be provided homogenously for all the

levels in order to define the promotion. Teachers elaborate the criteria and instruments used in

accordance to the pedagogical projects developed in each institution. However, the Federal

Council of Culture and Education accepted federal patterns for: a) accreditation and promotion

within Basic General Education and Polimodal and b) accreditation for the Techno –

professional tracks and Artistic – professional Tracks.

With the purpose of acquaint compatibility all through the country and of international

comparability, a federal parameter was established, on a scale of 1 to 10. This scale is intended to

measure the qualification of the different curricular spaces. Each category of the scale represents,

progressively, different levels of success. The definition of the federal parameter does not impede

the use of scales of qualification based on categories of conceptual denomination. In every case,

those scales can be compared with the federal parameter.

The decisions about allowing students to go into the next level or to advance into another stage

within the same level are taken on the base of the accreditation of the curricular spaces. It also

has to be taken into account the fulfilment of the requisite of a minimum number of days

necessary to attend to class. That quantity of days is established by each province and by the City

of Buenos Aires, respectively. Patterns of going ahead in the case of students of Basic General

Education and Polimodal must take into account the following criteria:

�� a decision of not allowing a student to move to the next stage or level must be defined in

accordance with the information gather among the team of teachers responsible of the

process of learning and only when all the complementary actions have already been

implemented.


�� for the first and second level, the decision of allowing a student to go ahead to the next

stage or level is taken through a holistic approach according to the core of knowledge

reached for that level and when that knowledge is sufficient enough to guarantee an

accurate the process of schooling

�� for the Third level of the Basic General Education and Polimodal, students who have

pending to accreditation more than two curricular spaces cannot be allow to go ahead

into the next stage or level. For those students, the institutions, according to their

possibilities and specific normative determined by the provinces and the City of Buenos

Aires, respectively, can offer different alternatives such as:

a) enrol in credited and non-credited spaces;

b) enrol only into the spaces that haven’t been accredited

c) into the spaces that haven’t been accredited and the rest of the school day, the student

must deal with a special working project assigned by the institution.


1.2. MAIN QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE SUCCESSES OF THE LAST 10 YEARS

Socio-economic structure of Argentine

The territory of the Argentine Republic has a total surface of 3.7 million square kilometres. The

Pampa plain occupies a third of the territory and is the main farming and industrial region of the

country, concentrating near 70% of the population, consisting of 36.100.00 inhabitants,

approximately. The urban population represents the 89,3% and the rural population takes up to

10,7% of the total.

The percentage of urban population and the growth rate of that population (1,79‰) places

Argentina closer to the realities of a developed country than to that of the developing countries.

However, while in the City of Buenos Aires and the Province of Buenos Aires – both being part

of the Metropolitan area – birth rates are 13,1‰ and 17,1‰ respectively. The province of

Misiones (Northeast region) and Salta (Northwest region) presents rates of 27,3‰ and 24,7‰

respectively1.. The infant mortality rate shows data that support this information: the City of

Buenos Aires ((13,0 ‰) and Tierra del Fuego (11,9 ‰) in the Patagonia, presents opposite

realities to the other 2 regions of the Norwest region; Chaco (31,8 ‰) and Formosa (26,9 ‰)2.

From year 1991, the Argentine Republic developed a pattern that promoted the disarticulation of

the previous mechanisms of regulation of State affairs, not only inwards but outwards as well.

The economic stability united to the process of privatization of state enterprises and the

reduction of the fiscal deficit, allowed a significant economic growth during the first half of the

decade.

The structural reform of the external sector was based on an opening of the economy towards

international markets and was destined to stimulate competition and aimed to obtain an

increasing convergence of national and international prices. This allowed increasing importation

and exportations of goods. Argentine has a predominant tendency to import products with high

added value, (capital assets, pieces and accessories of capital) and to export products of low

added value (primary products and manufactures of farming). This results in a lower and limited

qualified development of local productivity.


Figure Nº 1. Evolution of Gross Domestic Product. Years 1990/1998, base 1990=100

Source: National Institution of Statistics and Census

The Gross Domestic Product during 1998 was higher to the value corresponding to 1990, which

means a 56,1%. Nevertheless, this growth was accompanied by an increase of the differences in

the distribution of income. The distance among the 10% of higher incomes and the 10% of

lower incomes arose from 8 times (in 1975) to 22 (in 1998). In 1991 a 16% of the households

were in conditions of unsatisfied basic needs3. In 1999 this percentage grew to 23,4% with clear

regional differences.

Table Nº1. Argentine. October 1999. Percentage of inhabitants with unsatisfied basic

needs in the major urban regions

Regions UBN

Metropolitan 23,5

Pampa 21,2

Northwest 27,3

Cuyo 18,3

Northeast 34,1

Patagonia 16,5

TOTAL 23,4

Source: UNICEF on data of –NISC

100

110

120

130

140

150

160

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

PIB


At the beginnings of the ´80 the rate of unemployment was an insignificant issue. Almost ten

years after, it turns out to be the main problem. The impact of the unemployment on different

social sectors is diverse but the rate is higher among those that only have had access to the lowest

levels of the educational system.

In short, during the last decade Argentine went through a distinctive process in which an

important growth of the economy was parallel to an increase of the differences in the income per

capita.

MAIN QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE SUCCESS

The offering of educational services

The argentine system of education early reached high rates of schooling in Primary level, low

indices of illiteracy and an important development of Secondary and Higher Education.

However, historical and regional differences exist, as much in the access as in the yield of the

system.

In 1999 the formal educational system had an enrolment of 9.950.947 in the 40.770 schools, with

644.811 teachers in duty. The 77% of the students, the 78% of the buildings and the 75% of the

teachers belong to the public sector. This sector has traditionally been prevailing for all the

system’s level and the main responsible of it expansion, primarily on the fulfilment of the

obligatory issue. In the last 10 years, the private sector has expanded onto the non-university

higher education.

Table Nº2. Argentine. 1994-1999. Students of common education according to sector of

management of the school they assist to. Absolute and percentage values

Initial Primary Secondary SNU Total Abs.

E %

P %

Total Abs.

E %

P %

Total Abs.

E %

P %

Total Abs.

E %

P %

1994 998.629 68 32 4.979.190 79 21 2.144.372 68 32 298.286 69 31 1996 1.128.172 70 30 5.089.112 79 21 2.485.646 71 29 370.261 65 35 1997 1.145.919 71 29 5.153.256 79 21 2.463.608 72 28 356.585 65 35 1998 1.167.943 71 29 5.262.066 79 21 2.539.749 72 28 384.160 61 39 1999 1.180.733 72 28 5.282.657 79 21 2.607.364 73 27 391.010 60 40

Source: Ministry of Culture and Education. Federal Network of Educational Information. National Census of Teachers and schools buildings 1994. Annual Surveys 1996, 1997, 1998 y 1999.

In 1998, 1664 educational units conformed part of the system of non-university higher education.

Of these, 804 of them were public institutions and 860 were private. In this segment of the


system 805 institutions were intended to teacher training, 485 of them offered techno-

professional training and 315 covered both types of education.

The University Higher education in Argentine has historically been well considered due to its

level. In the last years, there has been a process of expansion of the offering, with a higher

regional coverage. This was due to the creation of new institutions. In 1989 and 1998, 9 public

universities were created, 21 private universities started their enrolment and 3 public universities

institutions and 4 from the private sector were opened. All this gives a total amount for the

public sector of 36 universities and 5 institutions and for the private sector of 40 universities and

6 institutions. Within the context of higher education, the relative importance of the university

system over the non-university is remarkable. Near 1998, the 75% of the students of the level

were enrolled in universities institutions and the 25% were enrolled in non-universities

institutions.

Access to the levels of the educational system

The evolution of the indices of schooling for the populations allows confirming that, in the last

decade:

�� There exist a fair access according to gender in the enrolment for schooling

�� There still persists the inequity to the access among different regions of the country

�� There exist significant differences in the schooling access among different groups and social

sectors

The percentage of illiteracy among the population of 14 years old arose 3,9% in 1991. This figure

is relatively close to that of the developed countries (1,8% in 1990). The distribution of this

percentage is not homogeneous: the difference between urban areas (2,9%) and rural areas

(12,1%) is very significant. In addition there is a significant difference among regions.

Table Nº3. Argentine. 1991. Conditions of illiterates of the population of 15 years old and more, by region. In percentage

Region Illiteracy

Metropolitan 2,2

Northwest 6,9


Pampa 4,4

Northeast 10,5 Patagonia 5,2

Cuyo 4,9 Source: NISC

According to the Census of 1991, a fifth part of the population of 20 to 64 years of age never

assisted to school o hasn’t finished primary school. Comparing the segment of age of 20 to 24

years old and those from 60 to 64 years old, verifies that:

a) among the youngest group an increasing of the percentages of accessing school to the

different levels can be verify: for primary school augment from 94% to 98%, for

Secondary school augments fro 23% to 63% and for higher education augments from 7%

to 26%.

b) those who never assisted to school represents 1% of the group of 20 to 24 years old,

while in the group of 60 to 64 years old represent a 6%, the percentage of illiteracy that

goes from 2% for the first group to 6% for the second.

In Initial Education, according to the census of 1991, the percentage of children of five years old

assisting to school ascended to 84%, 73% corresponding to Initial level and 11% to the Primary

level. Between that date and 1998 the growth of the enrolment reaches the 20%. This growth

results in a generalized covering for that group of age. The estimated growth of the population

indicates that the gross rate of schooling at 5 years old for the whole country would be between

the 96,1% and the 98,3%. This projection enclosed provincial and intra-provincial disparities. A

group of jurisdictions has an average rate of schooling of 62% while other group has an average

rate of 99,2% 4.. The rate of school assisting of the last year of kindergarten in 1998 was 88%

(urban areas), 82% for the poorest quintile and 99,6% for the richest quintile.

In short, the 90´s shows a significant advance in the total schooling for children of 5 years. In

some provinces and localities the fulfillment of this objective still requires efforts to reach the

goal.

In 1991, the access to Primary schooling was practically fulfilled. The rates of schooling for the

level have been growing. In addition, an important expansion of the Secondary Education took

place although there are still significant regional differences.


Table Nº4: Argentine. Years 1991-1998. Neat and gross rates of schooling of Primary and Secondary level in Argentine according to the selected years

Primary Level Secondary Level Year

Neat Rate Gross Rate Neat Rate Gross Rate 1991 (1) 95.1 107.8 59.2 73.6 1996 (2) 99.4 112.1 68.9 79.5 1997 (2) 99.3 113.8 72.0 86.4

(1) Actual rates calculated on the base of the data of the National demographic and households Census of 1991. (2) Estimated rates calculated on the basis of the demographic data of 1991 and adjusted according to the growth used for the projections of the National Institution of Statistics and Census for the 1990-2000 period, and actual enrolment taken from annual surveys done by REDFIED – Ministry of Culture and education during 1996 and 1997.

The differences in rates of schooling for those sectors among the 20% lower in the scale of

income per capita and of those that are in the 20% highest in the scale, reaches the 30,9%.

Table Nº 5: Argentine. May 1999.T Neat rate of schooling in the Secondary Education, measuring family income

Income Level 20% lowest 20% highest Difference Total

Metropolitan 62,9 92,9 30,0 75,1

Pampa 55,3 91,5 36,2 68,1

Northwest 56,8 92,5 35,7 69,6

Cuyo 60,5 83,7 23,2 69,5

Northeast 58,4 91,9 33,5 68,3

Patagonia 65,3 84,7 19,4 74,8

TOTAL 58,8 89,7 30,9 70,3

SOURCE: Ministry of Culture and Education, Research Unit, data based on EPH -NISC source

In the Higher Education there was also an increase of enrolment. Likewise, strong disparities can

be verified among provinces and social groups.


Table Nº 6 Argentine. October 1999. Neat rate of schooling in Higher Education and in

Universities according to regions, measure in income per capita.

Income level per capita Total Region

20 % lowest 60 % middle 20 % highest Metropolitan 5.8 25.7 55.1 25.1 Pampa 9.7 33.7 48.9 29.8 Northwest 13.1 23.4 49.8 23.4 Cuyo 7.7 22.1 42.9 21.0 Northeast 14.0 28.4 53.4 28.3 Patagonia 8.6 19.5 32.0 17.9 Total 10.2 26.3 48.6 25.0

* from 18 to 25 years old Source: Ministry of Culture and Education, Research Unit, data based on EPH

Withholding, repetition and desertion

The capacity of the system of education to retain and to promote the students who initiate their

schooling in each one of the levels is a key factor in relation to the equity. In Argentine, the

problem of grade repetition and abandonment has different values depending on the educational

levels.

Briefly, the efforts towards the extension of the obligatory schooling during the last ten years

impeded the fulfilment of actions tended to considerably reduced the percentages of grade

repetition

In Primary School, the construction of a theoretical cohort on the basis of available data for the

period 1997-1998 signals that for each 1000 students that start at that level, a bit less that 50%

(574) would success at ideal length. Approximately 20% would success a year after the

appropriate length and the other 5% would achieve the degree with a delay of 2 years or more.

In the first four years of schooling for this level, the system shows a strong tendency towards

withholding students although many of them would repeat the grade. On the contrary, in the

seventh grade there are more students that drop out than those that repeat. In whole,

approximately 83% of the students that starts the level finish it although with different length.

This data allows an analysis of the patterns of internal efficiency for each one of the educational

systems of the provinces. The regional differences appears not only in the quantity of students

that finish their studies for each one of the cohorts, but also in the tracks that the students have

gone through: jurisdictions that success in promoting a similar amount of students do so in quite

differentiated length due to the weight of the percentages of grade repetition. Although the


efforts carried out for bettering withholding and grade repetition indices, the differences among

jurisdictions are, in some cases, of alarming magnitude. While some provinces have percentages

of students that get their degrees closer to or higher than 90%, others merely get closer to 70%


Table Nº7. Argentine. Years 1997-1998. Promoted and abandoners according to

theoretical cohorts of Primary Education for jurisdiction. In percentage.

Region Province In ideal length

(7 años)

With a delay of up to 3 years

Total of students that get

their degree

Abandoners

Buenos Aires 70 17 87 13 Metropolitan City of Bs. Aires 76 13 89 11 Catamarca 53 25 79 21 Jujuy 52 31 83 17 La Rioja 51 31 82 18 Salta 54 27 81 19 Santiago del Estero 29 31 60 40

Northwest

Tucumán 59 25 84 16 Córdoba 49 31 80 20 Entre Ríos 52 24 76 24 La Pampa 60 21 80 20

Pampa

Santa Fe 62 26 88 12 Corrientes 47 21 68 33 Chaco 37 36 73 27 Formosa 33 37 70 30

Northeast

Misiones 29 34 63 37 Chubut 58 32 90 10 Neuquén 51 30 80 20 Río Negro 44 39 83 17 Santa Cruz 62 30 92 8

Patagonia

Tierra del Fuego 80 17 97 3 Mendoza 69 25 94 6 San Juan 50 27 77 23

Cuyo

San Luis 56 22 78 22 Source: Federal Network of Educational Information

Similarly, the Secondary education presents difficulties on rendering issues. The theoretical

cohort for this level shows that on 1000 students that initiate their studies only 537 of them will

finish them, and only 356 of them would do it in the ideal length. More than 10% of the students

of first grade repeat it and a similar percentage drop out the system. A similar situation happens

in the second year of study of this level, but it decreases in the last two years of the level.


While a group of provinces surpasses the 60% of students that fulfill their studies, another group

doesn’t reach the 45%. On the other hand, the fulfillment of the level in ideal length is even

lower as a consequence of the incidence of grade repetitions. In some provinces that reach

relatively high rates of level fulfillment, less than 40% of the students that initiates the Secondary

school fulfill their studies within ideal length. That is to say, they display a certain capacity to

withhold the students within the system but this means an important investment in terms of

years of studies for each of the students that successfully finish the level.


Table Nº8. Argentine 1997-1998. Promoted and y abandoners according to theoretical

cohorts of the secondary level measured by jurisdiction.

Province In ideal lenght (5

years)

With a year of delay

With two years of

delay

With three years of

delay

Total amount of succeeding students

Abandones

Buenos Aires 37 12 2 0 52 48

City of Buenos Aires 44 18 4 1 67 33

Catamarca 36 13 3 1 53 48

Jujuy 32 24 11 4 71 29

La Rioja 32 16 5 1 54 46

Salta 24 13 4 1 42 58

Santiago del Estero 25 9 2 0 36 64

Tucumán 35 10 2 0 48 53

Córdoba 40 17 5 1 62 38

Entre Ríos 34 15 4 1 54 46

La Pampa 39 13 3 1 56 44

Santa Fe 35 13 3 0 51 49

Corrientes 42 13 2 0 57 43

Chaco 27 14 5 1 47 54

Formosa 24 12 4 1 42 58

Misiones 29 15 5 1 50 50

Chubut 27 9 2 0 38 62

Neuquén 21 13 5 2 41 59

Río Negro 24 16 7 2 49 51

Santa Cruz 34 18 6 2 60 40

Tierra del Fuego 26 10 2 0 42 58

Mendoza 36 17 5 1 59 41

San Juan 35 13 3 1 51 49

San Luis 34 14 4 1 52 48

Source: Federal Network of Educational Information


The probability for a student of a household with high incomes to perform his / her school track

without difficulties is remarkably superior to that of a students belonging to the lowest income

social group. The grade repetition in the Primary level is five times higher for the poorest

students. This percentage is duplicated in the Secondary level, in which only the 24,4% of the

poorest students completes their studies in this level. This measurement was compared to the

76% of the quintile of higher incomes.

Table Nº9. Indices of faults and problems of rendering in the Primary and Secondary school according to levels of income per capita per household. Whole country. In

percentages.5 Population of 6 to 24 that assists with delay

Total 20% poorest

20% richest

Difference

In Primary school with delay 21,0 30,5 9,5 21,0 In Secondary school with delay 41,7 50,6 30,6 20,0 Población que asiste a la escuela Of 6 to 24 that repeated one or more grades of primary school

14,4 22,7 4,5 18,2

Of 15 to 24 that repeated one or more grades of Secondary school

35,0 38,3 27,3 11,0

Population of 6 to 24 currently studying, or already finished, or dropped out the Primary school

Accessed Primary school after the stipulated age

6,0 7,3 5,9 1,4

Repeated any grade 13,6 21,3 4,0 17,3 Population of 15 to 24 currently studying or already finished or dropped out the Secondary school

Accessed Secondary school after the stipulated age

15,2 26,4 8,8 17,6

Repeated any grade 27,9 34,5 18,6 15,9Abandoned Secondary school without finishing it

20,2 28,9 6,6 22,3

Population of 18 to 24 that fulfilled secondary school

45,7 24,4 76,0 -51,6

Source: Survey of Social Development. August 1997. System of Information, Monitoring and Evaluation of Social Programs (SIEMPRO)

Equipment and Infrastructure

The material conditions, such as infrastructure and equipment, are an important component for

the development of the processes of teaching and learning in the schools. In the last years great

efforts have been made in order to eradicate the precarious buildings, to augment the quantity of

buildings and to improve the equipment in the schools. This means that libraries and classrooms


of informatics were opened in the schools that haven’t had them. The differences among the

provinces and regions are reflected upon those issues too. The Northwest and the Northeast

regions are clearly below the Patagonia and Metropolitan regions, with a distance of almost 27

points according to the index of Building Quality from the best-positioned jurisdiction (City of

Buenos Aires – Metropolitan Region) and from that with less value (Santiago del Estero –

Northwest Region). In general, the buildings in that are in bad conditions are exclusively destined

to Primary school and are small in size. Anyway, it is possible that, since 1994 (year for which

date is systematized) the improvement planning of infrastructure might have shorten this gap6.

Table Nº10. Argentine. Año1994. Index of quality of school buildings measured by jurisdiction

Region Jurisdiction Score City of Buenos Aires 79,8 Metropolitan Buenos Aires 71,7 Catamarca 60,6 Jujuy 61,5 La Rioja 62,2 Salta 60,5 Santiago del Estero 53,2

Northwest

Tucumán 65,4 Córdoba 70,6 Entre Ríos 65 La Pampa 72,7

Pampa

Santa Fe 69,5 Misiones 62 Corrientes 59,2 Formosa 56

Nordeast

Chaco 54,7 Tierra del Fuego 77,1 Santa Cruz 75,3 Chubut 73,6 Río Negro 72,2

Patagonia

Neuquén 70,6 San Juan 71,1 Mendoza 71,7

Cuyo

San Luis 66,1 Total 67,7

Source: National Census of Teachers and School Buildings. 1994. General Secretary of the Federal Network of Educational Information.


The library is considered as the pedagogical space most frequently found in educational

institutions (40,7%), followed by labs (21,7%) and classroom of music (17,9%). The regional

differences in terms of presence of those spaces are important.

Table Nº11. Argentine. 1998. School Buildings in which common education is carried out and possess pedagogical spaces differentiated according to jurisdictions

Jurisdiction Total amount of buildings *

Library Classrooms of multiple

artistic activities

Classroom of music

Lab

Metropolitan 12.328 40,7 11,4 17,9 21,7Northwest 4666 18,8 5,7 7,2 8,6Pampa 7.781 29,4 10,9 11,8 14,1Northeast 4.409 22,9 3,4 3,9 7,2Patagonia 1649 40,8 17,0 17,1 21,5Cuyo 1.925 27,8 11,1 20,3 15,4Total 32.758 31,7 9,6 13,1 15,7* Includes main buildings and / or annexed buildings Source: Research Unit of the National Ministry of Education with data from CENIE 98. National Program for the Promotion of Educational Quality. Federal Network of Educational Information.

The quantity of institutions that has computers has been growing in the last year, it started with a

26% in 1994 and arose to 35,5% in 1998. Likewise, in this respect, there are differences when the

regions are compared. In this regard, the differences between the state sector and the private

sector augment the disparity. The percentage of computers within the private educational

institutions doubles the figures of the percentage of the state sector.

TableNº12. Argentine. 1998. School buildings of common education that possess computers according to region. In percentages.

Region Sector

State Private Total

Metropolitan 41,1 63,0 48,6 Northwest 11,5 57,7 16,2 Pampa 30,8 59,7 36,4 Northeaste 10,5 43,9 13,5 Patagonia 28,9 47,2 32,0 Cuyo 34,7 58,4 38,9 Total 28,4 60,2 35,5

Source: Research Unit of the National Ministry of Education, on the base of data gathers through the

National Census of Educational infrastructure. 1998


Quality of Education

Since 1993, the National Ministry of Education has been developing annual campaigns of quality

evaluation that measures the rendering of the students according to their responses to different

tests of knowledge7. These evaluations are produced within the context of the curricular reform

that actualized and renewed the contents. These evaluations are built on the base of the

knowledge that is gradually taught in the classrooms.

The tests evaluate the basic knowledge that is taught through out each cycle, in the case of last

years of the secondary school, this knowledge is common to all the modalities. In this part of the

document the results for the 9* year of the Basic General Education is presented. The 9* years is

the last and obligatory year for this level, and after fulfillment the student gets his /her degree.

The chart N*2, corresponding to the last year of obligatory education, shows that it is necessary

to improve significantly the levels of learning of the students, since the total amount of correct

answers is lower than the 60% for both areas.

Tables 13 and 14 remark the differences in the results between the private and the public sector.

Between them there exist differences of 12 points while the difference between the provinces is

closer to 22 points for Language and for Math. The provinces with lower results correspond to

those in which the socio – economic and educational indices are lower too (Northwest and

Northeast)


Chart Nº2. Average rendering for the 9* grade of General Basic Education (equivalent to

2* year of Secondary school) measure by area

Language

Math


Table Nº 13. Average rendering for area and sector measured in percentages of correct answers

9º year (2º year of Secondary) Area State Private

Language 55,99 70,68 Math 54,70 67,59

Source: National Campaign of Evaluation 1999

Table Nº 14. Argentine. 1999. Mean values of rendering in Language and Math of 9* year of General Basic Education by jurisdiction

Region Jurisdiction Language Math

City of Buenos Aires 68.01 67.85 Metropolitan Great Buenos Aires 60.84 58.10 Catamarca 46.10 47.09 Jujuy 49.52 48.46 La Rioja 46.26 45.34 Salta 52.41 50.38 Santiago del Estero 48.31 45.50

Northwest

Tucumán 54.30 52.40 Buenos Aires 60.40 60.53 Córdoba 64.40 61.77 Entre Ríos 60.62 58.79 La Pampa 62.31 59.42

Pampa

Santa Fe 62.66 61.04 Chaco 50.32 47.36 Formosa 51.11 48.20

Northeaste

Misiones 55.05 52.42 Chubut 58.84 53.00 Neuquén 56.60 59.83 Río Negro 61.99 62.46

Patagonia

Santa Cruz 53.05 50.75 Mendoza 62.61 61.17 San Juan 49.39 46.63

Cuyo

San Luis 54.43 50.99 * The Provinces of Corrientes and Tierra del Fuego were not evaluated Source: National Campaign of Evaluation 1999

For the last years of the Secondary school the kind of results follows the same patterns. Chart N*

20 shows the differences between the public and the private sector, which is higher that the 10

points. The Technical school, which is almost entirely public, has better results than the Bachiller

and the Comercial for the same sector, especially in Math.


Table Nº 15. Average rendering by area and by modality. On the whole country and for the 5* / 6* year of the Secondary School

Bachiller + Comercial estatal

Bachiller + Comercial privado

Técnico

Language 61,53 72,77 63,19 Math 64,09 74,09 71,09

Source: Results of the III National Campaing of Evaluation for the last year of Secondary School. 1999. Ministry of Education

Table Nº 16. Argentine. 1999. Mean values of rendering of Language and Math for 5* / 6* year of the Secondary school. By jurisdiction

Region Jurisdiction Language Math City of Buenos Aires 72.99 74.59 Metropolitan Great Buenos Aires 68.51 71.87 Catamarca 48.61 50.75 Jujuy 53.68 58.15 La Rioja 53.28 55.49 Salta 55.71 58.81 Santiago del Estero 53.67 54.08

Northwest

Tucumán 58.90 64.13 Buenos Aires 70.25 73.58 Córdoba 69.25 70.74 Entre Ríos 65.73 67.35 La Pampa 61.95 64.95

Pampa

Santa Fe 68.17 71.96 Chaco 53.81 53.73 Formosa 52.14 54.55

Northeaste

Misiones 55.59 57.82 Chubut 60.78 63.17 Neuquén 56.85 62.62 Río Negro 64.06 68.53 Santa Cruz 54.58 57.06

Patagonia

Tierra del Fuego 57.49 60.19 Mendoza 64.04 68.46 San Juan 55.11 59.44

Cuyo

San Luis 63.25 65.26 * The Province of Corrientes was not evaluated Source: Results of the III National Campaign of Evaluation for the last year of the Secondary school. 1999 Ministry of Education


The investment in education in the Argentine Republic

During the ´90 the investment in education increased sensitively as a result of the public policies

for the sector and the actions agreed between the national State and the provinces. An important

amount of national resources was destined to aspects linked to the educational transformation,

such as the development of the Common Basic Content, the development of teachers, the

continuing education of teachers, the design of the structure of the basic general education, and

the Polimodal education. In addition, goals linked to the evaluation, the cooperation and the

technical assistance for the concretion of the educational innovations and the institutional

fortifying were financed.

Chart Nº 3. Investment in education in 1993-99 in thousand of pesos

The investment in education has nowadays reached the 4,3% of the Gross Domestic Product.

This figure is reached through the growing of the budget of the national Ministry, which was

stabilized around the 0,8% of the Gross Domestic Product, as well as the budget of the

provinces. Although at the same time the enrolment for all the levels increased, between 1994

and 1999 an increased of the investment for each students was done in the majority of the

jurisdictions.

GASTO EDUCATIVO 1993-99 miles de pesos corrientes

9925

2747

12779

96269289

8241820779837294

255827722548222320651807

12335120241087710499

101079183

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

$

PROVINCIAS M INISTERIO NACIONAL TOTAL


Chart Nº 4. Investment in education as percentage of the Gross Domestic Product, Total

expenditure and social expenditure 1980-1999

The investment in education, measure as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product, increases

slightly and acquires importance as a percentage of the whole social investment. In spite of that,

the country nowadays has a fiscal debt that limits the possibilities of advancing in the growth of

the investment. This affects more profoundly to the provinces with major difficulties. Those

provinces unfolded in a context of high restrictions in the access and use of resources. The

investment for each student is lower in those provinces in which the educational urgency is

higher. Through this, can be appreciated the way in which is configured a heterogeneous scheme

of educational possibilities for the population of the different regions of the country, in which the

investment that the provinces can provide to the education scarcely revert the socioeconomic

differences.


Chart 5. Index of Educational emergency8 and average of the provincial investment on

each student 1998

The compensating policies fulfilled during the ´90, although they implied increases in different

issues of the investment, don’t seem to constitute a device sufficiently powerful in order to

surpass the current situation. The two investment plans of major forcefulness carried out during

that decade – the Social Educational Plan and the Federal Agreement – exhibits amounts of

investment for each student that only in some occasions shows correspondence with the

educational necessities of the province. This means, they still not succeed in the compensation of

the provincial differences in order to allow the fulfillment of the goals proposed in the Federal

Law of education.

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Chart Nº 6

A kind of synthesized

The process of reform of the last decade implied a sustained purpose of improving the quality

and the access of the population to new knowledge. Among other things, the context of

deepness of the social exclusion did not allow to surpass the historical, social and regional

heterogeneity of the main educational indices.

The increase of the rate of schooling in the different levels, in particular in the Secondary school

and in the Initial level, is without doubts an advanced in terms of equity. However, there still

persists ancient problems alike grade repetition and abandonment, especially within the

Secondary school. The Argentine Republic still offers to its children very diverse school

trajectories. The abandonment of the system and the grade repetition are problems that appear

with a great geographical bias, which coincides with the provinces that are in a weaker

economical situation and with the poorest social conditions. Their schools are those that have the

most difficult conditions for the development of the teaching tasks in terms of infrastructure and

equipment. The compensatory policies implemented constituted a very important step further to

solve those problems. However, only partially responds to the existing demands and needs.

INDICE DE URGENCIA EDUCATIVA E INVERSION POR ALUMNO(*) DEL PLAN SOCIAL(1993-99) Y EL PACTO FEDERAL (1995-99)

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1.3. EXPERIENCES FROM THE PROCESS OF CHANGE AND REFORM OF THE EDUCATION

SYSTEMS (APPROACHES ADOPTED, SUCCESSFUL OR FAILED STRATEGIES, MAIN PROBLEMS)

Introduction

The 1990’s marked a point of inflection in the development of the Argentine education system.

The new legal bases for education supported a re-shaping of the way the education system was

governed, granting new responsibilities to the national and provincial States9.

The debates of the 1980’s on the new objectives education should meet with the return to

democracy had enabled the necessary consensus for transforming the system to be reached.

The changes establish mechanisms for improving quality and equity, as in the case of the

extension of compulsory education, encouragement of a corpus of up-to-date knowledge for

pupils at all levels throughout the country –expressed in common basic contents and new

curricular designs – and the institutionalization of evaluation and information systems enabling a

follow-up of the actions undertaken. Alongside these advances there persist old social and

educational problems, indicative of the need to review the chosen strategies and courses of

action.

The formulation of an educational development strategy for the 2001-2010 period is based on an

evaluation of the experiences from the process of change and reform of the preceding decade.

The new ways of governing the system: the relationship between the national

and provincial authorities

The process of transferring the system to the provinces brought a new distribution of

responsibilities between the national authorities and the provincial and City of Buenos Aires

authorities in terms of educational management and administration. Operational and financial

decentralization made the provinces responsible for delivering the resources for the direct

provision of educational services. The impact of this process on the provinces varied according

to each one’s capacity for pedagogical, technical and financial administration.

The Federal Education Law redefined the role of the national State, granting it the functions of

promoting the unity, equity and improved quality of the system. It also strengthened the role of

the Federal Education Council as a coordinating mechanism. With this scenario, the national

Ministry led the reform by designing and financing the different change mechanisms in the


various jurisdictions. This produced a marked lack of symmetry in decision making between a

strong national State –based on the centralized control of resources– and the provincial states, a

situation expressed in the Federal Education Council’s agreements, which were difficult to

comply with in the bulk of the provinces.

The transformation approach adopted

Regardless of the situation in the provincial educational systems, their traditions and capacities,

the agreements reached in the Federal Education Council had two basic features: a swift pace of

application and a simultaneous strategy of change. The integral nature of the change meant at the

same time modifying the new structure of cycles and levels, the drawing up and implementation

of new curricular designs, carrying out compensatory programs, the development of training

courses to update teachers, infrastructure improvement and extension, and innovation in

institutional administration, among other things.

The strategy dealt with historically neglected problems and brought financial and technical

resources to the provinces, as has already been pointed out. However, the swift pace of these

changes, in the context of the provinces’ heterogeneous administrative ability, brought

consequences that upset the normal working of the system and detracted from the effectiveness

of the proposals. This is the case with the lack of synchronization of certain actions, (for

example, teacher training prior to the formulation of the curricular designs, or the

implementation of cycles, particularly the third cycle, without first training teachers to teach it).

The simultaneous nature of the reform produced overlapping and a significant overload on the

provinces’ and educational institutions’ administrative ability. In many cases, this contributed to

the provincial ministries neglecting the more structural medium and long term local priorities and

needs and devoting considerable energy to attending to demands deriving from the reform.

Undoubtedly, this phenomenon was not identical everywhere; each province adapted these

general educational policy guidelines to its own reality and capabilities. Some simply complied

strictly with the general regulations whereas others made the most of this guidance to meet their

own particular needs.

Finally, implementation of the reform was affected by the availability of funding. Although

resources increased, they were less than originally envisaged to carry forward the changes and

furthermore, much less than the requirements for a general transformation of the education

system.


In short, the transformation lacked an exhaustive diagnosis of the education system’s actual

operating conditions and of the available human resources that would ensure the long term

changes were sustainable.

As a result of these factors, the transformation led to the implementation of a heterogeneous mix

of structures and models. Thus, in various places, old problems in the education system have not

been resolved: greater intake and retention of pupils, low quality, lack of appropriate materials,

for instance.

New instruments for improving educational quality

Dealing with social inequalities, the evaluation of the education system, information gathering,

teacher education and training and the standardization of basic knowledge for all pupils had not

been addressed at the national level until the early 90’s. The Federal Education Law was

institutionalized via different national Ministry programs:

- The improvement in the situation of the poorest schools, particularly those in rural areas, was

one of the priorities of the “Social Plan” which provided the funds for these schools, put up new

buildings or rebuilt those in poor condition; distributed books and teaching materials specially

designed for this population and established a system of scholarships for students in the lower

secondary school.

- To improve its capacity to monitor educational change, the National ministry developed new

programs for collecting, processing and publishing statistics on the education system and for the

evaluation of learning achievements.

- The reform gave a strong impetus to teacher training via the Federal Teacher Further Education

Network (Red Federal de Formación Docente Continua - RFFDC), which organized free courses

in all the country’s jurisdictions.

Curricular reform produced common core knowledge throughout the country via the Common

Basic Contents.

Management of educational institutions: autonomy vs. centralized control

The reforms of the 1990’s promoted greater institutional autonomy. As a result of this policy,

schools were able to forge new links with the community, seek alternative resources for specific

purposes and to modify their internal organization. At the same time, putting new educational


management technologies into practice through programs and projects proved to be a

mechanism for the centralized development of institutional options. Thus, school heads sought

to follow the political guidelines and regulations in force, being obliged to implement a number

of specific projects in which they attempted to reconcile the interests of the national and

provincial programs, while the interests of the institution and the community in general were

neglected. Thus, the efforts of many school managements were directed at coordinating these

projects, financed, guided and evaluated from outside by the national and/or provincial

governments. Consequently, many school authorities focused their work on the execution of

projects, adopting resolutions without sufficient participation from teachers and the community

at large, due to the need to respond to the administrative demands of the central authorities. On

occasion, this prevented them following these projects through in the classroom.

On the other hand, studies carried out in the last few years indicate that autonomy is in direct

relation to diversity and to levels of poverty. Such policies without the development of effective

compensatory mechanisms to offset the socioeconomic variables affecting school performance

have been shown to be ineffective in resolving the problem10.

The change of structure

A review of the actions carried out over the last few years shows that priority was given to

transforming the structures of the levels and cycles along with renewal of the contents. The core

of the reform process assumed the transformation of the primary and secondary schools into the

new EGB (Educación General Básica - Basic General Education) and Polymodal structures was

an unavoidable, essential requirement for improving the quality and coverage of the education

system. Priorities were focused mainly on modifying the structure of the traditional system.

In its complex implementation, this priority led to scattered strategies adopted by the different

provinces so they could adjust to the new structure, giving rise to a system currently characterized

by a great heterogeneity of institutional models both within and between provinces. This

complexity is particularly marked in Secondary Education, (the Third Cycle of Basic General

Education and the Polymodal Level).

The problems are concentrated in the Third Cycle (Lower Secondary), given that it is integrated

with study years corresponding to the previous Primary and Secondary Level. The decisions

regarding institutional location, administrative reporting and teachers in charge of the cycle gave

rise to the most varied set of combinations. With regard to location, this cycle can be taught in


institutions along with the first two cycles of the EGB, in Polymodal institutions, in an

independent institution or divided between two different institutions depending on the year. The

different rates of implementation in each of the provinces meant that in some of them the Third

Cycle is fully implemented in most schools, in others only the first years and a third group retains

the old structure.

The Polymodal Level is the least developed, with significant differences between jurisdictions.

The proposed changes have strongly affected the identity of the institutions involved. The

elimination of the old branches of Secondary Education (Commercial, Humanities, Technical and

Agro-technical) and their replacement by general area-oriented education like the Polymodal

Level, was incompatible for institutions providing an education more directly articulated with the

world of work, such as the Technical Schools. Another issue to be resolved is the lack in some

areas of teachers trained to teach the curriculum for this level.

In short, the change in structure, despite having been a priority for educational policy over the

last few years, has not been completed and today the education system is in a situation of

"crystallized transition ".

Access, equity and quality

Despite the efforts of the national and provincial states during the last decade, the system’s

problems of quality, equity and internal performance persist. The objectives proposed with the

transformation initiated ten years ago have not yet been achieved.

In connection with teaching quality and school performance, the national evaluation schemes

show that a significant proportion of pupils do not achieve the minimum levels of knowledge

and competencies required for participation in social and productive life. These schemes show a

wide range and variety of results among social sectors, regions and provinces.

As a result of the actions of the last decade, there has been an increase in the coverage in the

system as a whole. There is a trend to growth in school attendance by young people aged 13 to

19 focused on the quintile with the lowest per capita income. Nevertheless, the objective of

universal access and continuity in basic education for all Argentine children and young people has

not yet been achieved.

It should be stressed that the quality and performance of education and access thereto are

conditioned by the economic structure, the regional and social inequality of which has become


very marked during the last decade. Despite the level of investment and the significant degree of

coverage achieved, the compensatory actions implemented by the Ministry of Education lacked

sufficient articulation both within the national Ministry and with other state areas and

organizations. Current conditions require more efficient use of the resources and the drawing up

and execution of integrated strategies for social development. The different types of direct and

indirect subsidies to populations at risk of exclusion – as in the case of scholarships for pupils in

the lower secondary school – have helped to increase entry and continuity in school. However,

there has been little in the way of radical strategies to change the current cost-benefit relationship

for these sectors of the population. In fact, it would appear that the objective of retaining pupils

in Secondary Education and for them to effectively achieve fundamental learnings is only being

met in some schools.

Besides these constraints, subsidies to pupils are inadequate. Evaluations by the National

Program of Student Scholarships show that in 1999 only 43% of the 267.000 candidates actually

received them. The scholarships have managed to cover only a quarter of potential recipients11.

Improvements and refurbishing of school buildings and investment in equipment (textbooks,

teaching libraries, computers, some laboratory equipment) are still far from being sufficient to

guarantee equality of learning opportunities for all children in the country. The commitments by

the national and provincial authorities in the Federal Pact of 1994, in which targets were defined

for equipment such as libraries and computer equipment, and infrastructure improvement in all

schools, have not been fully met.

Other factors also contribute to the persistence of inequality. Although the resources provided by

the national authorities as compensatory programs have been progressively distributed –more

resources to the less well-endowed provinces–, these have been insufficient to reverse or even

compensate for the limitations of provincial funding. One of the factors that would seem to have

restricted the effectiveness of the national resources in improving the distribution of educational

spending has been a "substitution effect" between national and provincial resources. This means

that, in the years when there is an increase in resources from the compensatory programs, most

provinces devote fewer resources to education.

Performance levels of pupils from the most underprivileged sectors are a key factor in articulating

the problem of quality and equity.

The “Social Plan” and “New School” programs used various means of encouraging innovation in

educational institutions, but it has not yet proved possible to provide widespread projects that


can be evaluated and transferred and have an impact on results that will improve quality and

increase retention in the poorer sectors.

In short, improvement in the conditions of equity and quality require –as well as a larger budged

than has been made available in the last few years – the definition of precise, medium term goals,

that can be evaluated, the setting of public criteria for resource allocation and planning in which

there is convergence and articulation of the different social policies with pedagogical mechanisms

for improvement in quality, and in pupil retention and performance.

The lack of articulation in Higher Education

As a result of the history of various governmental administrations and of different political and

educational projects, higher education is in the nature of a mosaic reflecting the varied attempts

at resolving both specific and structural problems which respond to a particular concept of

higher education and of the relative importance of the different types of tertiary education.

Within the higher education system it is the universities that have the clearest definition of their

mission and their functions, although they have been modifying their reference model in line with

various successive institutional paradigms. In spite of the consolidation of the principle of

autonomy for the national universities, they have developed a historically similar model based on

shared principles that have acted as a cultural ideal. This was not the case with non-university

higher education institutions. So far the need to articulate university and non-university higher

education had not been raised. In the last decade in particular, the university sub-system, both

public and private, has tended to become more diversified. There has been a persistent lack of

coordination in the system, leading to what is known as a “binary system” of higher education.

The system’s internal lack of symmetry is reflected in the enrollment in the university sub-system

(74 % of the total for this level) compared to the non-university sub-system (which has only 26

%). The number of institutions in each case also shows a marked imbalance. There are around

400 universities with 74 % of all students and approximately 1700 institutions for the 26 % in

non-university higher education. Spending per student in the non-university higher education

sub-system is $2.555 while spending on each university student is $1.887.

These differences arise from the lack of articulation between the two sectors of the higher

education system. A binary system of options, marked by a strong bias in academic and social


prestige is unlikely to be able to satisfy students’ varied needs and capabilities in a country facing

significant social problems.


1.4. MAJOR PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES FOR NATIONAL EDUCATION AT THE START OF THE

XXI CENTURY

For the next decade, Argentina faces the challenge of generating educational policies and

allocating resources to ensure compliance with the objectives laid down in the Federal Education

Law, particularly those relating to the extension of compulsory education from seven to ten years

and the systematic fostering of improved quality and equity. The policies will focus on actively

promoting and guaranteeing universal compulsory education and significantly increasing the

levels of entry and retention in post-compulsory education.

Taking into account the characteristics, achievements and barriers to the process of change of the

last few years, the core problems to which the national Ministry, the Federal Education Council

and the Ministries of Education of the provinces and the City of Buenos Aires will give priority

during the 2001-2010 period are:

1. Federal coordination of education policy.

2. Improvement of the information and evaluation systems

3. Extension of compulsory basic education on a footing of quality and equity

4. Reorganization of secondary education

5. Education of young people and adults

6. Strengthening of the teaching profession

7. Development of new technologies in schools

8. Integration of the Higher Education system

Coordination of federal education policy

The National Education Ministry has set about improving the planning and decision making

processes in order to draw up strategies for change that take into account the capabilities and

limitations of each province. The aim is thus to draw up a long term educational policy, strongly

coordinated at the federal level, but organized and agreed to by all actors involved.

The National Ministry’s strategies are:

�� To give greater power to federal planning and coordination of educational policies.


�� To draw up a strategic plan for 2001-2010 agreed between the national ministry and the

provinces that will set out the matrix of problems, priorities, policies and medium and

long term goals, taking into account the provinces’ constitutional and legal powers.

�� To establish mechanisms that will ensure effectiveness and transparency in policy

formulation and execution and resource allocation.

Extension of compulsory education on a footing of quality and equity

One of the advances at the regulatory level during the last decade was the extension of

compulsory years of schooling. However, there have so far been only limited achievements in

meeting these objectives. We are still far from guaranteeing the right of all social sectors to access

to quality education on an equal basis.

As a function of social and regional differences, the Ministry of Education is implementing

strategies to shape a more equitable system, paying particular attention to the problems of

dropping out, repeating years, and low learning achievements in basic education.

This aim of education policy involves setting a common minimum level of inputs for all schools

in the country. In this respect the following actions are being implemented:

�� Expansion of an integrated system of scholarships, particularly focused on the lower

secondary sector, on the re-entry of young people who have dropped out of school and

on work training.

�� Joint implementation by the national Ministry and the provincial ministries of the

Program of Compensatory Actions in Education (Programa de Acciones Compensatorios

en Educación), to guarantee that lower income sectors can gain equal access to

educational services regardless of their geographical location. To do so, there are

coordinated, integrated assistance plans in progress for the populations most adversely

affected by socioeconomic conditions. Likewise, in cooperation with the provinces, there

are direct actions with schools operating areas of poverty.

�� Guaranteeing 180 effective teaching days throughout the country and additional periods

in the provinces with the highest school failure rate.


�� The provision of pens, pencils etc. and textbooks for pupils and libraries and teaching

equipment for classrooms and schools. During 2001, the Equity program will attend to

the needs of fourteen thousand schools in the different levels and subject areas. The

Infrastructure Program (Programa de Infraestructura) provides basic services (water,

electricity and gas) for all schools and undertakes the extension and refurbishing of

existing buildings and the construction of new ones to respond to both the increase in

enrollment and the disrepair of existing establishments.

�� Expansion of courses to provide an adequate response to cultural diversity.

�� Gathering information regarding experiences in schools that undertake community

support projects and fostering of networks between the community and schools.

These actions are accompanied by a follow-up and quality evaluation system which periodically

makes it possible to detect variations not only in pupils’ learning achievements, but also in the

indispensable inputs for guaranteeing the quality of the education process.

Improvement of the information and evaluation systems

The annual evaluations of the results of learning from 1995 to date are an instrument of great

significance for diagnostic purposes and policy design.

As from the recent creation of the Institute for Educational Quality (Instituto para el Desarrollo

de la Calidad Educativa - IDECE), these evaluations will be articulated with an overall strategy of

information gathering and research whose objectives will be:

�� to foster and sustain an ongoing process of evaluation of the education process at the

different levels, stages, cycles and years, which will help to improve their quality and reduce

educational inequalities.

�� to organize and maintain an integrated system of educational data guaranteeing continuous,

reliable production and dissemination of information on the state and progress of the

education system.

This information and the evaluations of the education system are the input for decision

making on national and provincial educational policy and are made available to the education


community as a whole to help to improve the educational projects in each of the country’s

schools.

Secondary education

This sector currently requires priority attention, given that this is where the problems of a socio-

economically and culturally diverse age group and the weaknesses in the policies for adolescents

converge. Secondary education still has a very low capacity to retain pupils and perform

efficiently. The problems of failure in the early years of the new cycle and pupils’ low academic

achievements at this level persist, although with marked differences in the country’s different

regions.

The secondary school preserves features of the traditional school’s pedagogical model, such as

organizational inflexibility, a strong disciplinary role, emphasis on teacher-centered exposition

and the spoken word as the main means of communication. Young people and adolescents,

however, face a daily barrage of knowledge, codes and values from the audiovisual culture and

increasingly from the mass media. On the other hand, these days secondary school is the

minimum level of formal education required in the labor market even for relatively simple jobs.

In this context, the national Ministry is implementing the policies required to guarantee

educational quality and equity in secondary schools throughout the country. This policy proposes

the implementation of new models of institutional and curricular organization and the

improvement of secondary education by means of:

�� setting up teacher working groups for joint planning, the exchange of experiences, a stronger

professional culture, the detection of common problems, the development of tutoring and

follow-up tasks,

�� updating teaching practices via incorporation of pupils’ interests and their participation in the

various learning and personal development experiences,

�� fostering greater effective school autonomy to improve teaching coordination and increase

the capacity for processing the demands and needs of the school’s members and of the

community,

�� increasing the time school installations are used outside regular school hours for activities

promoting youth culture in schools,


�� the development of strategies for the consolidation of learning in pupils at risk of failure at

school,

�� the fostering of a curriculum that will concentrate teaching on a limited corpus of basic

knowledge and competencies.

Education of Young People and Adults

The figures for illiteracy and individuals lacking full compulsory basic schooling, the explosive

increase in the demand for secondary schooling for adults, the profound transformations in the

productive system and in social and labor relations, and the swift pace of change in scientific and

technological paradigms, among other things, make it necessary to develop stable State policies

by integrating those of different ministries and public bodies. Traditionally, education for young

people and adults tended to be restricted to literacy and post-literacy teaching, with marginal

attempts at activities linked to professional training, mostly not articulated with basic education.

A society marked by change requires the individual to learn to take decisions based on autonomy,

creativity, critical analysis, logical reasoning, confidence and preparedness for change and

transformation.

The concept of further education underlying the actions of the Ministry of Education provides a

broader framework for educational policy, in that it involves not only sectors that have been

excluded from the formal provisions of the education system but also those who, while having

had contact with them, urgently need to participate in further education in its various forms.

The Ministry of Education is developing projects to articulate the formal education processes

with the different sectors of the adult population. The policies for the sector have the following

objectives:

��To articulate general education and professional training, integrating education for

citizens and qualifications for the working world.

��To reorganize the education of young people and adults, bearing in mind different

scenarios and audiences (such as the training of micro-entrepreneurs, business training

for the Small and Medium Size Enterprise Sector, the organization of voluntary

workers, dealing with immigrants and prison education).


��To comply with compensatory policies for young people and adults by optimizing and

making the structure of services and curricular criteria for elementary and basic

education more flexible. 1

Strengthening of the teaching profession

The upgrading and support for the teaching profession is one of the priorities of educational

policy for the ten years 2001-2010. Mention has already been made of the difficulties for reform

with regard to teachers participating in policy design and implementation. For various reasons,

the courses implemented through the Teacher Further Education Network have not made any

significant contribution to improvements in the day to day practices of primary and secondary

teachers. Improvement in quality requires the upgrading of teaching as an indispensable

condition for the functioning of the education system as a whole. It is necessary to develop

policies to improve the capacity of schools and their authorities to lead educational projects and

integrate them into their communities. In general, institutional autonomy requires a strategy for

improving management at all levels of the education system. During this decade particular

attention will be paid to:

1. The training of school authorities and teachers in competencies such as leadership,

delegation, problem solving, communication, teamwork, foresight and negotiation.

2. There will be a solid, sustained policy of support, improvement and strengthening of the

teacher’s role and working conditions. It will be attempted to incorporate teachers’ views in

the definition and focusing of educational policies.

With regard to teacher training, the National Teacher Education Program (Programa Nacional

de Formación Docente) gives priority to the following actions:

1. Strengthen teacher training institutions through the promotion of self-evaluation, attendance

by teachers at specialization courses run by universities and the design of networked specialist

activities in teacher training establishments that are to function as poles of development.

2. Encourage the influence of teacher training institutions on the quality of the education system

through collaboration with teachers in the surrounding schools and the encouragement of

innovative projects in those schools.

3. Establish networks between Teacher Training Institutes for the purpose of designing

cooperative actions and exchanging up-to-date information.


The development of new technologies in schools

The incorporation of information and communication into everyday life has produced a real

cultural transformation, which has been called the "information society".

For the ten years 2000-2010 projects are being developed for children and young people to be

trained in the handling and use of information widely available in various media, particularly

digital media. Information and communication technologies are integrated into schools to help

improve teaching and learning processes by critical use of the new technologies. At the same time

there are training activities, development of contents, computer and connective equipment so

that all teachers in service have the opportunity of progressive access to training in new

technologies. The national Ministry, through the Teaching Resources Program (Programa de

Recursos Didácticos), is providing computer equipment and Internet connection in schools to set

up an educational Intranet. Teachers from schools throughout the country are encouraged to

create contents for dissemination via the Educ.ar website. The function of this site is to foster the

inclusion of new technologies in teaching.

Integration of the Higher Education system

At this level, the challenge is to construct an integrated system that will provide broader options.

The proposed reformulation has the following general objectives:

�� To make higher education more democratic and of a higher quality

�� To encourage relevant training alternatives and different types of institution

The specific objectives are as follows:

a) To articulate the different types of higher education into an integrated system.

b) To thus allow greater curricular flexibility and mobility of students.

c) To train students so they will have the following characteristics:

�� Versatility in training and increasing specialization, so they can adapt to the constant changes

in professional fields.

�� Autonomy to identify problems, produce solutions, take decisions and obtain new experience.


�� Flexibility to break with routine and the ability to learn, unlearn and adopt new approaches in

thinking and in professional and social practice.

�� Ability to design new personal and professional projects.

d) To increase their chances of employment and of generating their own enterprises.

e) To develop different types of studies in higher education establishments designed to meet

local and regional needs.

This restructuring of higher education as a whole, on the basis of existing institutions and from

an overall perspective, will make it possible to resolve issues such as:

�� the definition of different types of institution to open up as many alternative routes as

possible and thus democratize the opportunities for access, continuance, and moving in and

out of higher education;

�� articulation between types of institution to facilitate access to higher levels of training and

avoid dead ends;

�� the development of varied, flexible types of training, at different levels and in different types

of institution, through flexible curricular management, which will make it possible to review

study programs in relation to the dynamics of the disciplines and of society;

�� articulation with a reasonable quality of secondary education that will provide the

indispensable foundation for higher education and help students to make considered, critical

vocational choices.

The Tertiary Institutes will allow their students access to the university networks or other tertiary

institutions. These institutions will be able to provide:

�� General basic university training with academic certification as the first stage in a university

degree course.

�� Training of technicians in short and medium length courses, teacher training and arts training.

These studies will be entitled to subsequent accreditation, by automatic recognition or

specific approval, to undertake university degree courses.

�� Industrial and professional education, training and re-training for adults who wish to start or

re-start formal studies –as an option to complement adult education – or by a non-formal

type of study.


In each locality, Tertiary Institutes will be able to become centers for direct interaction with their

environment and provide flexible education, training, refresher courses and re-training

appropriate to their local and regional society and to the working world.

This proposal for integrating higher education will provide society with a quality system, with bi-

directional courses in all types of institutions and minimum basic entry requirements that will

make it possible to achieve top academic levels regardless of where studies were initiated.


2. EDUCATION CONTENTS AND LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR THE XXI CENTURY

(NURSERY/PRE-SCHOOL, PRIMARY/BASIC AND FORMAL AND INFORMAL SECONDARY

EDUCATION)

Curriculum setting, principles and assumptions

The decision making process: What decisions and who takes them at each level

The National Ministry of Education is responsible for “Establishing, in agreement with the

Federal Council for Culture and Education (Consejo Federal de Cultura y Educación – CFCyE),

objectives and common basic curriculum contents in the different educational levels, cycles and

special programs to facilitate pupils’ horizontal and vertical mobility, leaving sufficient space

available in the curriculum for the inclusion of content in line with Provincial, Municipal,

Community and School requirements” (Federal Education Law N° 24.195; article 53).

Between 1994 and 1998 the Common Basic Contents, the curricular designs, the subject areas

and methods for evaluating the cycles, levels and special programs that constitute the education

system were agreed in the Federal Council of Culture and Education (Federal Education Law N°

24.195; article 56).

The curricular policy developed during the 1990’s set three levels of curricular specification:

national, provincial and City of Buenos Aires, and institutional. The Common Basic Contents

(CBC) for the different levels in the education system, determined at the national level, lay down

the universe of knowledge considered legitimate for teaching in schools throughout the country.

The curricular reform process mobilized significant technical and financial resources. The

complete renovation of teaching content for each of the new levels, cycles and subject areas

meant teaching methods were significantly modernized.

The setting of the Common Basic Content (CBC) for all levels, cycles and special

programs

Between 1970 and 1990 there were practically no curricular transformations involving reviews of

the teaching contents in the different cycles and levels in the system. From 1984, with the return

to democracy, some provinces introduced changes into the curricular designs for some levels in

their education systems. This provided them with better conditions and technical experience for

undertaking the changes imposed on them by the new structure and for setting curricular designs.


In 1993 the CFCyE and the National Ministry of Education initiated the setting of the Common

Basic Contents (CBC) for all levels, cycles and special programs. This process was carried out in

different stages and involved the organization of three circuits for selecting and setting the

Common Basic Contents: technical, federal and national.

This process lasted from 1994 to 1998. The products agreed were:

�� Common Basic Contents for Nursery/Pre-School Education, (1995)

�� Common Basic Contents for Basic General Education, (1994)

�� Common Basic and Area Orientated Contents for the Polymodal Level, (1997)

�� Common Basic Contents and Basic Curricular Contents for Teacher Training (1998)

The agreements approving the CBC were endorsed by the National Ministry of Culture and

Education by means of various resolutions validating the pertinent certificates nationally. The

national State thus attempts to guarantee unity within the diverse framework of provincial

decision making.

The agreement of Basic Contents for all cycles and levels provided the provinces with a common

curricular base for the development of their curricular designs and their curricular orientations

for the special programs.

Setting of provincial curricular designs and curricular orientations for special

programs1

Once the basic contents for each of the levels and subject areas was approved, the National

Ministry of Culture and Education organized a concerted process of Curricular Design with the

provincial technical teams.2

Most of the provincial education ministries’ administrative structures lacked curriculum

development areas. This meant it was necessary to set up teams capable of undertaking the

curricular designs for the different cycles and levels of the provincial education system. The unit

in the National Education Ministry in charge of the selection, contracting, follow-up and

monitoring of compliance with goals was the Regional Program for Investment in the Education

System (Programa Regional de Inversiones en el Sistema Educativo - PRISE).

The provinces and the Government of the City of Buenos Aires formulated their curricular

designs through a process of selection, contextualization and sequencing of the CBC and the

definition of the teaching methodology and the criteria for moving pupils up and granting them

credits.


The Cooperative Seminars for Curricular Transformation (Los Seminarios Cooperativos para la

Transformación) were the mechanism for articulating the national guidelines and the work of the

provincial curricular committees. This was an attempt to provide provincial teams with the

opportunity to improve their production and for the pace and quality thereof to be monitored by

the national Ministry.

This working method was used from 1995 to 1999. The result was the Standardized Curricular

Designs, documents that became models to be followed, basically in the provinces with the least

technical capacity.

Taking the provincial curricular designs as a basis, educational institutions had to define their

own curricular project (Proyecto Educativo Institucional -PEI), including the teaching plans

drawn up by each teacher. Standards and mechanisms that legally and technically fitted the

development of the curriculum were formulated for each of these levels.

A significant achievement of this process was the possibility of simultaneously having new

contents throughout the country. These contents, as well as serving the equity of the national

education system, provided a frame of reference for teacher education and training and for the

evaluation of the quality of learning. However, criteria were not stipulated, at the federal and

provincial and City of Buenos Aires levels, for prioritizing minimum content and competencies

for each of the educational levels and cycles in line with specific, heterogeneous educational

problems.

The lack of consideration given to the teaching conditions in schools and the scant participation

by the teaching profession (primary and secondary teachers, teachers’ unions, professional

associations) in the setting of criteria for the selection, organization and sequencing of content,

were a barrier to the curriculum becoming part of an educational project in schools. This meant

that regulations for developing the curriculum were alien to the actual situation in schools. It is

clear that a significant part of the new content has not yet been effectively incorporated into

actual teaching.. Apart from the use of a “new” curricular language, a large number of schools

still continue to use traditional practices and content.

Definition of curricular structures

The Basic Curricular Structures agreed at the federal level have regulations governing teaching

hours, the number and type of subjects and criteria for the distribution of teaching hours. They

provide an intermediary mechanism between the CBC (first level of curricular specification) and


the provincial curricular guidelines and designs (second level of curricular specification). By Basic

Curricular Structure is understood a matrix allowing the organization and scheduling of contents,

determining the relationship between those contents, incorporating rules governing subject

combinations and grouping them in credit units called curricular areas (subjects, workshops, for

example). The Federal Basic Curricular Structure is a flexible mechanism because it includes rules

governing subject combinations for defining study programs; it establishes the maximum number

of curricular areas or subjects to be studied per year and minimum numbers of teaching hours.

Within the framework of the CFCyE, in September 1998, the Basic Curricular Structure for the

Third Cycle of the EGB and for the Polymodal Level were approved.

Definition of contents

The contents refer to the set of knowledge or cultural items considered essential for pupils to

assimilate and internalize in order to develop competencies.

Traditionally, the term content was used to refer to the data and concepts from different

disciplines. They were associated directly with the products of knowledge generation practices.

Modern curriculum theories have shown that content always goes beyond this characterization

since in fact it covers various cultural forms. As well as scientific knowledge, school teaches value

judgments, attitudes, skills, methods and procedures, both implicitly and explicitly. We need to

accept the complexity and variety of teaching content.

Criteria for the selection, formulation and organization of Content

In Argentina eight criteria have been suggested for the selection, organization and formulation of

Common Basic Contents: 1- Social significance; 2- Breadth and depth; 3- Integration into a

coherent body of knowledge; 4- Horizontal and vertical articulation; 5- Up-to-date information;

6- Openness; 7- Ranking; 8- Clarity and simplicity of the CBC.

Change and adaptation of educational content today

The National Ministry of Education is currently carrying out a work plan with the provinces and

the City of Buenos Aires which includes curricular design and development activities based on

significant and reliable information. This task proposes to set priorities in the objectives and

content proposed for school activity. It is reckoned that over the last few years curricular policy


tended to prescribe maximum content and expectations with regard to pupils’ expected

achievements. Strategies are also outlined to resolve the problems reflected in the indicators of

coverage, internal efficiency and quality of learning.

The setting of priorities is part of a policy to redefine the function of the curriculum. It is a question of appreciating the instrumental role of curricular design in the appropriate organization of teaching activities. This policies deals with:

��the educational profile of each cycle and its specific educational responsibilities;

��the basic knowledge and competencies for each curricular unit under consideration (year or cycle), and the level of progress or improvement aspired to; and

��the objectives or expectations of achievement for each curricular unit in order to establish adequate parameters for progress, credits, review and setting of remedial strategies.

Study plans, time allocated to each subject or area. Length of school year.

Number of weeks worked

Nursery/Pre-School Level

The current curricular position in Nursery/Pre-School Education varies from province to

province. Some have curricular designs prior to the approval of the Common Basic Contents and

others have defined their curriculum for the first time. In some cases, the design reflected a

process synthesizing previous production, with some degree of participation at different stages by

teachers, school authorities, supervisors, technical teams; while in others, the curricular design

was the starting point from which it is hoped to intervene in teaching practices. In one case the

curriculum is considered the cornerstone for transformation while in another it is linked with

broader, more complex and participatory processes.

The main feature of curricular designs is their homogeneity. The contents are organized in the

areas proposed by the same chapters of the CBC.

There has been some loss of specific methodological orientation in Nursery/Pre-School

Education due to the “primary influence” in Kindergartens (i.e. teaching methods at this level in

line with criteria and guidelines that are typical stereotypes of the EGB or primary school),

particularly in the 5 year-old groups. This situation is the result of the heterogeneous and unequal

development of nursery/pre-school education in the different regions of the country.


First and Second Cycle of the EGB

The curricular designs for the First and Second Cycle of the EGB were the first to be defined

and implemented in a high percentage of jurisdictions in the country. The most important

challenge lay in restoring the specific nature of each cycle and the educational orientation of the

whole, for the purpose of improving the historical rates of repeat years and dropping out.

The areas incorporated into curricular design after the definition of the CBC are Ethical and

Civic Education and Technology.

In general, the areas are organized on the basis of topic axes or cores and the contents were

sequenced for each of the three years of each cycle.

Some designs included teaching hours allocated to areas per school year, others mention the

distribution of teaching hours as an annual total.

Incorporating new areas into the curriculum design using the same timetable as in the traditional

primary school has led to conflict between the amount and depth of proposed contents and the

permitted teaching hours.

Third Cycle of Basic General Education

In the third cycle of the EGB there are no separate sub-cycles or internal stages with different

certifications, and it consists of three years in most of the provinces that have implemented it.

Nevertheless, this section formally constitutes a single educational unit together with the First

and Second Cycle of the EGB in terms of credits and certification of basic compulsory studies

for all individuals.3

Curricular structure and teaching hours by areas or subjects

�� The provincial and City of Buenos Aires Curricular Designs and/or Guidelines for the Third

Cycle of Basic General Education. Taking the Common Basic Contents and the Basic

Curricular Structure as reference point, in 1996 the provinces started to develop their own

curricular designs. A third level of curricular specification is contemplated, expressed in the

schools’ own educational projects.

The Basic Curricular Structure for the Third Cycle of the EGB was drawn up bearing in mind the

following criteria:


�� to achieve international standards in total teaching hours. To progress towards 2700 hours

for the three-year cycle, on the basis of 180 school days; (five 5-hour days per week. 36

school weeks per year)

�� to define up to 10 subjects per school year;

�� to allocate a minimum of 72 hours for annual curricular areas.

This basic, flexible matrix provides various organizational alternatives, so that the provinces can define their own curricular structures within them.


Table: Curricular structure of the Third Cycle of the EGB. Minimum teaching hours for the cycle by curricular areas. (Agreement with the Federal Council for Culture and

Education)

Curricular areas defined by the chapters of the CBC

Minimum number of teaching hours for the cycle

Language 360 Foreign Language 216 Mathematics 360 Physical Education 216 Social Sciences 288 Natural Sciences 288 Arts Education 216 Technology 144 Ethical and civic education 144 Regular teaching hours 2.232 Flexible teaching hours 468 Total hours envisaged for the cycle 2.700

These chapters of the CBC are organized differently in each province. The decision as to subjects

to be studied may be focused on an area or on a discipline or on a combination of the two. There

are two chapters of the CBC that may resolved differently, i.e. Technology and Ethical and Civic

Education. By way of example:

�� In Natural Sciences there are provinces that propose alternatives organized by areas: Natural

Sciences I, II y III , and in other provinces organized by disciplines: Biology, Physics and

Chemistry.

�� In Social Sciences, with a similar criterion, organization by area is proposed: Social Sciences I,

II and III, or else mixed Social Sciences, History I and Geography I, History II and

Geography II; or else a clearly disciplinary organization leading to multi-disciplinary studies.

�� The Common Basic Contents in Ethical and Civic Education are in some provinces

integrated into other curricular areas (Social Sciences), or else are organized into subjects

taught in one, two or all three years in the cycle.

�� There is a similar organization in the Technology area, which either appears in its own

curricular areas or else its contents are integrated into others.

�� Language, Mathematics, Foreign Languages and Physical Education are generally defined as

curricular areas or as subjects on the basis of one per year of the cycle.


�� In the case of Arts Education, provincial and institutional solutions vary, but in the majority

of cases there is a distinction between Music and Plastic Arts in each year.

The federal curricular structure includes flexible teaching hours so institutions can define

curricular areas for the design of integrated projects, complementary courses, technological

projects or guidance and tutoring projects.

Teaching hours in the Curricular Structure of the Third Cycle of the EGB in the

provinces

Teaching hours in the Basic Curricular Structure approved by the provinces may vary by up to

approximately 20% of the total.


Table: Provincial curricular structures in the Third Cycle of the EGB. Number of curricular areas and teaching hours per year

Province Basic curricular structure 1 Areas to be determined by the

provinces

Total annual teaching hours

Year Areas associated with the CBC

Hours Areas Hours

7º 7 792 - - 792 Buenos Aires 8º 7 792 - - 792

(*1) 9º 7 792 - - 792

7º 9 792 1 48 840 Catamarca 8º 9 792 - - 792 9º 9 792 - - 792 City of Buenos Aires

Decisions in progress

7º 13 912 - - 912 Córdoba 8º 13 912 - - 912 9º 13 1008 - - 1008 7º 9 792 2 120 912 Corrientes 8º 9 792 2 120 912 9º 9 792 2 120 912 7º 8 696 1 48 744 Chaco 8º 8 864 1 48 912 9º 8 912 1 48 960 7º 9 816 1 48 864 Chubut 8º 9 816 1 48 864 9º 8 816 2 120 936 7º 9 864 1 24 888 Entre Ríos 8º 9 936 1 24 960 9º 9 936 1 24 960 7º 7 648 1 96 696 Formosa 8º 8 816 1 72 888 (In transition) 9º 9 912 1 72 984 7º 9 792 1 96 888 Jujuy 8º 9 816 1 96 912 9º 9 816 1 96 912 7º 7 672 2 144 768 La Pampa 8º 9 768 2 120 888 9º 9 768 2 120 888 7º 8 936 936 La Rioja 8º 8 1188 1188 9º 8 1188

Number of teaching hours not yet established 1188

7º 7 2 696 Mendoza 8º 10 2 912 9º 10 2 912

(*1) The Civic Education content is included in the Social Sciences area. Ethical Education is not separated from

general education.


The Technology contents are specifically incorporated in one weekly period in the areas of

Language, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences. In the technical schools there are

complementary curricular areas in the 8th and 9th years.

Province Basic curricular structure Areas to be defined by the provinces

Total teaching hours per cycle

Year Areas associated with the CBC

Hours Areas Hours

7º 9 720-912 2 120-72 840-984 Misiones 8º 9 720-912 2 120-72 840-984 9º 9 720-912 2 120-72 840-984 7º 8 782 1 36 828 Neuquen 8º 9 888 2 108 996 9º 9 888 2 108 996 7º 8 768 2 72 840 Río Negro 8º 11 840 2 72 912 9º 11 840 2 72 912 7º 9 696 2 48 744 Salta4 8º 10 816 2 48 864 9º 10 888 2 48 936 7º 9 744 - - 744 San Juan 8º 9 744 - - 744 9º 9 744 1 48 792 7º 10 696 1 48 744 San Luis 8º 11 840 1 48 888 9º 11 840 1 48 888 7º 9 792 1 96 888 Santa Cruz 8º 9 792 1 96 888 9º 9 792 1 96 888 7º 9 672 1 48 720 Santa Fe 8º 9 816 1 96 912 (for sec. Schools) 9º 9 888 1 48 936

7º 9 768 1 48 816 8º 9 792 1 48 840 Santiago del

Estero 9º 9 792 1 72 864 7º 9 744 2 96 840 8º 9 744 2 96 840 Tierra del Fuego 9º 9 744 2 96 840 7º 4 432 2 360 792 8º 4 456 2 432 888 9º 4 456 2 432 888 7º 8 768 1 48 840 8º 9 840 1 48 912

Tucumán (2)

9º 9 888 1 48 960 Source: Curricular Observatory Unit. Curricular and Training Administration Program. (Unidad Observatorio

Curricular. Programa de Gestión Curricular y Capacitación.) (2) Structure to be implemented in 1999.


The number of teaching hours established for the different areas connected with the CBC is in

most cases higher than the minimum of 2232 hours laid down by the Federal Education Council.

There is a trend to expand the number of teaching hours, giving priority to the teaching of the

Common Basic Contents over areas defined by the institution or other options for which the

federal framework provides flexible teaching hours.

Table 2: Percentage distribution of teaching hours in curricular areas5

Curricular area

Buenos Aires

Chubut Córdoba Entre Ríos

La Pampa

Salta San Juan

Santiago del Estero

Language 18,18 14,71 12,71 15,38 14,15 14 15,78 14,28

Social Sciences

18,18 14,71 15,25 15,38 14,15 12 12,63 12,39

Natural Sciences

18,18 14,71 15,25 13,67 12,26 12 12,63 12,39

Maths 18,18 14,71 12,71 15,38 14,15 14 15,78 14,28

Physical Education

9,09 8,82 7,63 7,70 7,55 8 9,48 8,57

Arts Education

9,09 8,82 10,17 7,70 7,55 9 9,48 8,57

Technology --- 8,82 13,56 8,54 3,77 7 6,32 8,57

Ethical and Civic Ed.

--- 5,88 5,09 5,98 3,77 8 6,32 5,71

Foreign Language

9,09 8,82 7,63 7,70 7,55 8 9,48 8,57

Defined by Institution

--- --- --- 2,57 7,55 --- --- ---

Guidance and Tutoring

--- --- --- --- 7,55 8 2,10 6,67

Total 100

100 100 100 100 100

100 100

Source: Report: The basic curricular structure of the Third Cycle in eight jurisdictions. Educational Research Unit. National Ministry of Education 2000. (Informe: La estructura curricular básica del Tercer Ciclo en ocho jurisdicciones. Unidad de Investigaciones Educativas. Ministerio de Educación de la Nación 2000).

Polymodal Level and Professional Technical Education

The Polymodal Level includes two types of education: Basic General Education represented by

Common Basic Contents (CBC) which aims to guarantee the acquisition of a core of basic skills

by all students in this level of the new Argentine system. Area-Orientated Education is reflected


in the Area-Orientated Basic Contents (CBO). This content fleshes out and goes into greater

depth in different chapters of the CBC.

Basic General Education and Area-Orientated Education are grouped into five subject areas:

��Humanities and Social Sciences;

��Natural Sciences;

��Economics and Organizational Administration;

��Production of Goods and Services;

��Communication, Arts and Design. All these subject areas share a common core of humanistic, social, scientific and technological

knowledge, although they organize and develop the contents in line with the specific

requirements of the area of knowledge and the institutions’ regional and community contexts.

The Polymodal Level can be complemented by and integrated with professional technical training

in specific production areas by means of different Technical Professional Courses (TTP)

provided by institutions.

The Technical Professional Courses provide an opportunity for diversifying the curriculum in

this stage of education and give training in professional competencies for future secondary level

technicians.

The established Technical Professional Course areas are:

�� Process industries. �� Electronics. �� Agricultural production. �� Health and environment. �� Electro-mechanical equipment and

installations. �� Aeronautics and avionics.

�� Construction. �� Organizational administration. �� Informatics. �� Multimedia communication. �� Free time, recreation and tourism. �� Bio-aquatic resources.

The Third Cycle of the EGB and the Polymodal Level can also be articulated and integrated with

Artistic Professional Courses (TAP) in Music, Dance, Theater, Visual Arts, Audiovisual Arts,

Multimedia Arts, and Literature, aiming at a polyvalent education articulated with specialized

artistic training.

The Polymodal Level grants a single certificate which entitles the holder to access to any kind of

higher education. If a student completes the Polymodal Level and a full TTP or TAP , he/she

obtains a secondary level technical certificate in the relevant specialization.


The school day at the Polymodal Level lasts for a minimum of 5 hours, with a school year of 180

days. There is a 5-day week, from Monday to Friday, with an estimated 36 teaching weeks. There

are therefore 900 hours available for each year and 2.700 hours for the whole level.

The number of teaching hours for each Technical Professional Course varies from 1200 to 1800

hours. The Polymodal Level may include in its teaching hours subjects or modules from the

Technical Professional Courses and Artistic Professional Courses for up to 25 % of its total 2700

hours. Some professional courses can continue into a 4th year.

Curricular framework: basic content, curricular structure and teaching hours per areas or

subjects

The curricular frameworks, drawn up and agreed federally for the Polymodal Level, the Technical

Professional Courses and the Artistic Professional Courses are:

a) The Common Basic Contents (CBC) and the Area Orientated Basic Contents (CBO) for the

Polymodal Level. These contents were approved in 1997 and provide a national parameter

adopted by the provinces for drawing up provincial curricular guidelines.

b) The Basic Curricular Structure for the Polymodal Level. Like the Third Cycle of the EGB this

is an intermediate mechanism between the Basic Contents and the provinces’ curricular

guidelines or designs.

c) The curricular structures and the respective basic curricular documents for the Technical

Professional Courses (TTP) and Artistic Professional Courses (TAP). These courses consist of a

set of modular subjects of increasing complexity which provide specialized training.

In the Basic Curricular Structure set out for the Polymodal Level three types of curricular areas

are distinguished:

��Curricular areas common to all subject areas. Their function is to guarantee a general

basic education focused on the development of a core of common basic contents

��Curricular areas specific to each subject area. Their function is to enable learning of the

basic competencies in relation to the fields of knowledge and expertise laid down for each

subject area,

��Curricular areas established by the institution. These will be laid down by the institutions

on the basis of the criteria established by the provinces.


The Basic Curricular Structure for the Polymodal Level lays down a number of teaching hours

for curricular areas common to all subject areas which varies from 50 to 60%. The number of

teaching hours for the curricular areas specific to each subject area, between 25% and 30%. The

remaining teaching hours are for the curricular areas established by the institution.

This curricular structure lays down a number of criteria:

- To devote a minimum of 2700 hours to this stage of education on the basis of 180 teaching

days,

- To establish a maximum of 30 curricular areas and no more than 10 curricular areas per year

within the 2700 hours envisaged for this stage of education

- To establish a minimum of 72 hours per annual curricular area.

Given the comprehensive nature of this upper secondary cycle, the aim is for all pupils in the

different subject areas to have educational experiences in all the fields of knowledge established

in the Common Basic Contents, but in some there are options. There are therefore alternative

choices in the fields of knowledge relating to Humanities and Social Sciences, Natural Sciences,

Art and Communication and Technology.


Curricular areas in all subject areas and rules governing subject combinations for the three years of the Polymodal Level

Language and Literature Two or three curricular areas Language and Literature I Language and Literature II Language and Literature III Foreign Languages Three curricular areas Foreign language I Foreign language II Foreign language III Mathematics Two or three curricular areas Mathematics I Mathematics II Mathematics III Ethics and Civics. One curricular area Ethics and Civics Physical Education. Two or three curricular areas Physical Education I Physical Education II Physical Education III

Natural Sciences Two or three curricular areas: Physics I Chemistry I Biology I Humanities and Social Sciences Three or four curricular areas: History I Geography I Economics I Philosophy I Psychology Technology One or two curricular areas: Production processes Administration technologies Information and communication technologies Art and Communication. One or two curricular areas: Artistic-communication languages Communication Contemporary culture and aesthetics

Total: between 18 and 20 subjects


The curricular areas specific to the subject area include those compulsory for the subject area,

and optional areas depending on the particular institutional project. Four curricular areas have

been defined for each subject area in the Polymodal Level which must be studied by all pupils in

the country, and there are a further three which are to be optional for each province or

institution. The common areas can be seen in the following table:

Curricular areas specific to each subject area for the three years Subject Area Compulsory

Natural Sciences Biology II Chemistry II Physics II Community research and participation project

Economics and organizational administration

Organizational theory and administration I Law Information systems Business planning and administration

Humanities and social sciences Culture and Communication Sociology Political Sciences Community research and participation project

Production of goods and services Control technologies Materials technologies Legal framework for production processes Technological project

Communication arts and design Artistic languages II Design Images and contexts Communication production and administration

Number of areas 4 compulsory areas

The curricular areas established by the institutions are aimed to incorporate the requirements and

peculiarities of each institutional context.

The Technical Professional Courses are organized by curricular modules. A module is a specific

type of curricular area. It is defined as a unit that organizes the teaching-learning process around

the development of the skills required to exercise the profession (professional competencies).

The organization, selection and sequencing of the contents of a module are usually carried out by


identifying core problems at work. These problems are used to define the skills and contents, the

educational activities and the standards and criteria for evaluating learning.

Special Programs

- Special education

The construction of new paradigms spread the concept of special educational needs, this

understood as the needs of individuals who require aid or resources not normally available in

their educational environment so they can acquire the knowledge established in the curriculum.

Argentine schools have been implementing actions based on the concept of an integrated school

for over two decades.

The support services for the schools in the formal education system vary in each of the various

jurisdictions. In general there are interdisciplinary teams including psychologists, educational

psychologists, speech therapists, social workers, either peripatetic or integrated into the schools,

as well as departments providing pupils, parents and educational institutions in general with

preventive measures, diagnoses, guidance and, if necessary, referral.

The following actions are being carried out in the different provinces:

• implementation of follow-up and evaluation programs, by those in charge of school

integration and pedagogical adaptation projects

• definition of evaluation, credit and pupil certification instruments

• shared teacher training;

• setting up of Guidance, Refresher and Research Centers for the community and for

the educational institutions that integrate and deal with people with Special

Educational Needs

• permanent integration teachers in schools with integrated children to facilitate

inclusion;

• institutional educational projects (proyectos educativos institucionales - PEI) and

specific projects in regular and special schools;

• network of early stimulation services

• paid secondments in government departments


Ordinary teacher training programs have also incorporated “Attention to diversity” as a problem

focus. The teacher training courses have included basic knowledge dealing with diversity and with

the individual with special educational needs. Special teacher training programs are in progress in

the most important urban centers.

Education of Young People and Adolescents

Argentina is currently reformulating the EDJA (Educación de Jóvenes y Adolescentes), mainly its

concepts, characteristics and social value. The EDJA’s function is to establish a permanent

program of basic and general education and of professional training for:

a) those individuals who, having attended the regular education system, have not completed

their studies;

b) those who, never having attended, require literacy courses and/or basic education; or

c) those who, having been trained for certain trades, require knowledge relevant to their

socio-cultural environment and working needs, updating of their work and/or professional

knowledge, etc..

On the one hand, it is recognized that there are groups and individuals with educational needs

that the educational system as a whole has failed to sustain and, on the other, there is recognition

of the need for further training on the part of the population as a whole. There is coexistence of

target groups of different age groups and with varied needs and interests:

- illiterate young people and adults over 16;

- young people and adults who have not completed basic and secondary schooling;

- young people and adults who, on the basis of their prior certification and knowledge, wish to

obtain new knowledge and certification from the educational system.

Teacher training

With the passing of the Federal Education Law, the national State assumes responsibility for

guaranteeing the right of teachers to further teacher training and education.

The objective of teacher training was to promote educational quality and improve the levels of

school retention by means of the constant updating of contents, methodologies and resources to

stimulate improvement of the teaching processes; the support of school and classroom


management; and attention to diversity, due to either socioeconomic, cultural or ethnic

differences.

The Federal Teacher Further Education Network (Red Federal de Formación Docente Continua

- RFFDC) was the authority charged with centralizing all aspects of training at the national level.

This network constituted an articulated system for integrating actions for undergraduate training,

further training and teacher refresher courses among its constituent institutions. Both the

Universities and the Teacher Training Institutes are members of the Network. These institutions

clustered around twenty four Provincial and City of Buenos Aires administration centers, located

in each of the provinces and the City of Buenos Aires. The administrative centers were charged

with organizing, controlling the management and follow-up of the training courses given in their

jurisdiction. They were also in charge of the selection of training proposals from the different

state and private run organizations. Within this framework, the National Ministry of Education

became the National administration center, responsible for coordinating and providing technical

and financial assistance to the provinces and the City of Buenos Aires.

Between 1994 and 1999, the RFFDC was organized on the basis of three principles:

�� operational decentralization and integration of the system,

�� resource optimization, and

�� quality teacher training.

The status of the RFFDC

With regard to the setting up of the network, throughout these years the following have been set

in motion:

�� The setting up of the national and provincial administrative centers and their technical

teams.

�� The setting up of national and provincial instructor teams for direct training and instructor

training.

�� The setting up of teams of tutors for distance and semi-distance training, articulated with

other programs.

�� The participation of a wide variety of institutions in the presentation of projects and the

implementation of training courses.


�� The integration of different subject areas and alternative ways of organizing public

examinations, centralized proposals, courses requiring attendance and distance courses,

etc.

�� The incorporation of the basic and advanced training, and refresher functions into a large

number of the IFD for their transformation in line with the Agreements of the CFCyE.

�� The drawing up of documents establishing guidelines and parameters for the different

authorities and levels of training.

�� The drawing up of national and provincial regulations governing the mechanisms for the

administration, implementation and evaluation of training.

�� The setting up of a federal information and certification system (REFEPEC)

�� The encouragement of mechanisms and instruments for controlling the academic and

administrative quality of training.

In relation to technical assistance for the provinces, the regional assistants provided advice to the

provincial administrative centers and their technical teams

Teacher education

In relation to curricular structure, Teacher Education in Argentina is regulated by two national

laws: the Federal Education Law and the Higher Education Law. From these derive the

Framework Agreements approved by the education ministers of all the provinces and the City of

Buenos Aires in the Federal Council of Culture and Education and in the Universities Council.

To define the Teacher Training contents, Common Basic Contents have been drawn up as

follows:

- undergraduate for Nursery/Pre-School and the First and Second Cycle of Basic General

Education.

- undergraduate for the Third Cycle of Basic General Education and the Polymodal Level.

The provinces and the City of Buenos Aires have initiated these processes with varying degrees

of prescriptiveness. In some cases, the subjects and teaching hours have been decided, in others

only the former have been established, leaving the institutions to decide the teaching hours in line

with established general agreements.

In 1999 the following agreements were established: the maximum number of subjects that can be

studied simultaneously by pupils, correlativity by subjects and not by years, demarcation of


contents to be taught by restoring the tradition of subjects in the specific academic field, the

development of teaching practices from the start of training.


1Notes of Chapter 1.1 1 The details exposed in 1.2 lack accuracy due to the inexistency of a national demographic census since 1991. This is particularly problematic for calculating the ratio of school enrolment, which is a fundamental index that informs about the levels of access to the educational system. In order to calculate those ratios, statistical projections were made that, beyond its technical correlation, always implies a certain error due to the elapse of time since the data were collected in the census of 1991. 2 The national territories – juridical body currently extinguished within national socio-political organizations – depended administrative and politically on the nation. Lately, they became the current provinces. 3 Láinez, O: Name of the National Senator who presented this particular law. Notes of Chapter 1.2 1 Data obtained through the National Program of Statistics of Health, body that belongs to the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Republic of Argentina 2 Data obtained through the National Program of Statistics of Health, body that belongs to the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Republic of Argentina 3 The Index of Unsatisfied Basic Needs is the measurement through which the National Institute of Statistics and Census measures the structure poverty levels among the population. This measurement requires that other indices of deprivation be taken into account: heaping, household conditions, sanitary conditions, school accessing and surviving capabilities. 4 Source: Ministry of Culture and Education. Program of Technical Aid for the Curricular Transformation, Coverage and Quality in Basic Education, December, 1999. 5 Data gathered through the Survey of Social Development, August 1997, System of Information, Monitoring and Evaluation of Social Programs. The survey was conducted on a sample that represents the 96% or urban populations and 83,4% of the total. 6The National Ministry of Culture and Education elaborated an index of building quality that ponders aspects of structure and functional conditions, context situation and legal issues of the schools´ buildings along the country. The index was design in 1999. It was defined according to the data gathered through the National Census of Teachers and School Buildings conducted in 1994. Beyond the specific values it takes, the index shows the different regional situations that exist in respect to this feature. 7 In 1999 the evaluation was done on a sample. For that sample the 3* grade, 6* grade, 7* grade and 9* grade of General Basic Education (3*, 6*, 7* grade of Primary school and 2* year of Secondary school, respectively) were selected. The subjects under evaluation were Math and Language. For the 6* year of General Basic Education (6* grade of Primary school) evaluations were made on Natural Sciences and Social Science. For the last year of the Secondary level (5* and 6* year according to the old system structure) the evaluation was conducted under the mode of a census and was applied to Math and Language. 8 The different jurisdictions are organized according to the scores they get for the index of Educational urgency. This index combines diverse indices of school rendering such as: the withholding, school life


expectancy and had shown a high level of correlation (aprox. 0;85) with the index of Unsatisfied Basic Needs of each jurisdiction. 9 Law of Transfer of Educational Services Nº 24.049 of 1991, Federal Education Law Nº 24.195 of 1993 and Law of Higher Education Nº 24.521. 10 Tedesco. 11 Ravela, P (2000) Evaluation Report of the Argentine National Student Scholarship Program. Ministry of Education

Notes Chapter 1.4 1 See Res. 145/00 CFCE

Notes Chapter 2 1 The Federal Education Law designates as special programs establishments providing artistic education, education for pupils with special needs and education for young people and adults. 2 The document Series A, Nº 8 was agreed within the framework of this coordination. 3 The CFCyE’s resolution added that the Third Cycle of the EGB would constitute "...one unit with regard to psychological and evolutionary development (early adolescent years)" and would seek "to generate a differentiated teaching project by avoiding possible assimilation into existing levels" 1 For the definition of the basic curricular structure consideration is given to the criteria agreed in the Framework Agreement document Series A Nº 16. 4 Two hours of Religion are also included per implementation year, total :144 hrs.

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